Initial Jobless Claims Drop 27,000 to 341,000 in Week Ended Feb. 9

WASHINGTON — Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell sharply by 27,000 to 341,000 in the February 9 week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The initial claims level in the February 2 week was revised up to 368,000 from the previously reported 366,000 level. Expectations for this week's report was for an initial claims level of 360,000.

A Labor Department analyst said there was nothing unusual in the state level data but that two states were estimated — Illinois and, separately Connecticut due the blizzard that blanketed the Northeast United States last weekend.

The Labor Department analyst said he does not believe the blizzard impacted people's ability to file claims, as most of that is done via internet or over the telephone.

In addition, he said he has since received the official data from both states, and there is no difference compared to his estimates. "We were within pennies of what they sent in," he said.

Seasonal adjustment factors expected unadjusted claims to fall a mere 368 in the February 9 week. Instead, unadjusted claims declined by 7.5%, or 29,014, to 359,428. That level is not too far below the 365,014 level reported in the comparable week a year ago.

The state data released for the February 2 week indicated unadjusted initial claims increased in 35 states and declined in 18 states, with no states unchanged. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands are included in this data.

The initial claims seasonally adjusted 4-week moving average was 352,500 in the February 6 week, an increase of 1,500 from the previous week.

The level of continuing claims came in at 3.114 million after seasonal adjustment in the February 2 week, a sharp drop of 130,000 from the previous week, and the lowest level since July 12, 2008 (3.104 million).

The level of unadjusted continuing claims also plummeted, down 103,381 to 3,640,033 in the week, and below the 3,984,889 level in the comparable week a year ago.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment dipped to 2.4% in the February 2 week, below the seasonally adjusted 2.7% 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 soared to 2,081,356 in the January 26 week, an increase of 255,258.

Extended benefits claims were essentially unchanged, up by 2 to only 862 in the January 26 week, as the program is almost completed.

The Labor Department reported that a total of 5,918,156 persons claimed unemployment benefits in the January 26 week, an increase of 327,676 from the previous week, but well below the 7,681,411 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.

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