Initial Jobless Claims Dip 1,000 to 298,000 in Week Ended Aug. 23

WASHINGTON — Initial claims for US state unemployment benefits dipped by 1,000 to 298,000 in the August 23 week, below expectations and following an upward revision to the level in the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Expectations for this week's report were for a claims level of 300,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previously reported 298,000 level in August 16 week. The initial claims level in that week was revised to 299,000.

The initial claims seasonally adjusted 4-week moving average fell 1,250 to 299,750 in the August 23 week after falling by 13,000 in the previous week.

The Labor Department said there were no special factors impacting the data.

Seasonal adjustment factors had expected no change in unadjusted claims in the August 23 week. Instead, unadjusted claims fell by 0.3%, or 841, to 248,622. That level is well below the 279,803 level reported in the comparable week a year ago.

The state data released for the August 16 week indicated unadjusted initial claims increased in 14 states and declined in 39 states, with no state unchanged. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands are included in this data.

The level of continuing claims came in at 2.527 million after seasonal adjustment in the August 16 employment survey week, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week and up 19,000 from the level in the July 12 employment survey week.

The level of unadjusted continuing claims fell by 12,142 to 2,400,252 in the August 16 week, and was still down considerably from the 2,819,944 million level in the comparable week a year ago.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate held steady at  1.9% in the August 16 week, down from 2.3% in the comparable week a year ago.

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 reported that a total of 2,466,791 persons claimed unemployment benefits in the August 9 week, a decline of 50,674 from the previous week. The current week's level is still well below the 4,460,830 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.

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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