Initial Jobless Claims Off 9,000 to 336,000 in Week Ended Nov. 2

WASHINGTON — Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment fell 9,000 to 336,000 in the November 2 week, the Department of Labor reported Thursday.

Expectations for this week's report were for a claims level of 337,000, just 1,000 more than were actually reported. The October 26 week was revised down 5,000 to 345,000.

The number of federal workers filing for unemployment insurance is subsiding as only 4,011 filed for UI benefits in the week ending October 26 after seeing that figure surge during the government shutdown earlier in the month. Federal workers are not included in the headline initial claims figure.

The Labor Department said that seasonal adjustment factors had expected a 4.1% rise in unadjusted claims, or roughly 13,121, in the November 2 week. Instead, unadjusted claims rose 1.3%, or 4,222, to 327,074, below the 361,800 level reported in the comparable week a year ago.

The initial claims seasonally adjusted 4-week moving average fell 9,250 to 348,250 in the week ending November 2.

The state data released for the October 26 week indicated unadjusted initial claims increased in 34 states and declined in 19 states, with one state unchanged. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands are included in this data.

The level of continuing claims came in at 2.868 million after seasonal adjustment in the October 26 week, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week.

The 4-week moving average for continuing claims fell 8,500 to 2.866 million.

The level of unadjusted continuing claims fell 13,964 to 2,495,070 in the October 26 week, below the 2,783,667 level in the comparable week a year ago.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment held steady at 2.2% in the October 26 week, still well below the seasonally adjusted 2.5% 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 Labor Department said that the level of unadjusted Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits claims rose 64,837 to 1,370,774 in the October 19 week.

The Labor Department reported that a total of 3,958,691 persons claimed unemployment benefits in the October 19 week, a 74,777 increase from the previous week, but still well below the 5,007,237 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