WASHINGTON — Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell by 13,000 to 263,000 in the October 3 week, a larger drop than expected, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.
Expectations for this week's data were for an adjusted claims level of 272,000, which would have been down from the previous week's 277,000 level. The September 26 week's claims level was revised down slightly to 276,000.
The Labor Department said there were no special factors, but noted that it estimated South Carolina's claims, while Nevada sent in its own estimate.
Seasonal adjustment factors had expected an increase of 11.4% in unadjusted claims, or 24,608, from the previous week. Instead, unadjusted claims rose by 5.8% or 12,543 to 227,659. That level is below the 257,545 claims reported in the comparable week a year ago.
The initial claims seasonally adjusted 4-week moving average fell by 3,000 to 267,500 in the October 3 week, a fourth straight decline.
The level of continuing claims rose by 9,000 to 2.204 million in the September 26 week. Before seasonal adjustment, continuing claims were down 10,002 to 1,866,956. This is significantly below the 2,031,751 unadjusted level in the same week a year earlier.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment held steady at 1.6% for the September 26 week. The rate was 1.8% 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.
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