Initial Jobless Claims Drop 12,000 to 334,000 in Week Ended June 8

WASHINGTON — Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell by 12,000 to 334,000 in the June 8 week, far below expectations and with no estimated states included in the data, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Expectations for this week's report was for a claims level of 350,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previously reported 346,000 level in June 1 holiday week. The initial claims level in that week was unrevised.

The initial claims seasonally adjusted 4-week moving average fell by 7,250 to 345,250 in the June 8 week, the second straight decrease.

A Labor Department analyst said there was "nothing unusual" in the June 8 week data, and there were no states estimated in the most recent week.

The analyst said that seasonal adjustment factors had expected a 16.7%, or roughly 49,000, jump in unadjusted claims in the June 8 week. Instead, unadjusted claims rose 12.6%, or 37,141, to 330,933. That level is below the 376,610 level reported in the comparable week a year ago.

The state data released for the June 1 week indicated unadjusted initial claims increased in 18 states and declined in 35 states, with none unchanged. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands are included in this data.

The level of continuing claims came in at 2.973 million after seasonal adjustment in the June 1 week, a slight increase of 2,000 after falling by 31,000 in the previous week.

The level of unadjusted continuing claims rose 19,609 to 2,761,542 in the June 1 week, down from the 3,091,216 level in the comparable week a year ago.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment held steady at 2.3% in the June 1 holiday week, well below the seasonally adjusted 2.6% 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 Labor Department said that the level of unadjusted Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits claims plunged 57,135 to 1,703,458 in the May 25 week.

The Labor Department reported that a total of 4,515,445 persons claimed unemployment benefits in the May 25 week, a decline of 129,863 from the previous week, and well below the 5,827,210 persons in the comparable week a year ago. These data are not seasonally adjusted, and include regular state claims, federal employee claims, new veterans claims, the EUC and extended benefits programs, state additional benefits, and STC/Workshare claims.

Market News International is a real-time global news service for fixed-income and foreign exchange market professionals. See www.marketnews.com.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM BOND BUYER