Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell 6,000 to 403,000 in the Oct. 15 employment survey week, slightly below expectations, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The claims level in the most recent week was down 25,000 from the 428,000 level in the Sept. 17 employment survey week.
A Labor analyst said there were no special factors in the current week and no states were estimated. The analyst said seasonal factors had expected a decline of 10.3%, or about 41,700 in unadjusted claims, following the start-of-the-quarter spike in the previous week.
Unadjusted claims actually fell 47,229 to 356,825 in the current week. Unadjusted claims were at a level of 394,016 in the comparable week a year earlier.
Economists surveyed by Market News International had expected initial claims to come in at 405,000, up 1,000 from the previously reported level of 404,000 in the Oct. 8 week.
The previous week’s claims were revised up to a level of 409,000.
The seasonally adjusted four-week moving average for initial claims was 403,000 in the Oct. 15 week, down 6,250 from the previous week and the lowest level since 399,250 in the April 16 week.
The state data released for the Oct. 8 week indicated unadjusted initial claims increased in 49 states and declined in four states. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are included in the data.
In the Oct. 8 week, continuing claims rose 25,000 to 3,719,000 after seasonal adjustment. Unadjusted continuing claims rose only 2,431 to 3,116,875.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate held steady at 2.9% in the Oct. 8 week, and was well below the 3.5% rate in the comparable week a year earlier.
The unemployment rate among the insured labor force is well below that reported monthly by the Labor Department because claims are approved for the most part only for job losers, not the job leavers and labor force reentrants included in the monthly report.
The department said the level of unadjusted emergency unemployment compensation benefits claims fell 48,981 in the Oct. 1 week, bringing that category to 2,967,054.
Extended benefits claims fell by 19,410 to 517,755, not seasonally adjusted in the same week.
The Labor Department reported that a total of 6,697,346 persons claimed unemployment benefits in the Oct. 1 week, a decline of 124,239 from the previous week and still well below the 8,897,391 in the comparable week a year ago.
The data are not seasonally adjusted, and include regular state claims, federal employee claims, new veterans claims, the EUC and extended benefits programs, additional state benefits, and STC/Workshare claims.
