WASHINGTON – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell by 16,000 to a level of 269,000 in the February 6 week, well below expectations and the lowest level since before the recent January volatility, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.
Expectations for this week's data were for an adjusted claims level of 283,000, which would have been down 2,000 from the previous week's originally reported 285,000 level. That week's level was unrevised.
The Labor Department said there were no special factors in this week's claims and there were no states estimated.
Seasonal adjustment factors had expected a decrease of only 1.3%, or 3,988, in unadjusted claims for the current week. Actual unadjusted claims fell by 21,136 to 290,804 in the week, a 6.8% decrease. The current week's level was down sharply from the 324,158 level in the comparable week a year ago.
The seasonally adjusted 4-week moving average fell by 3,500 to 281,250 in the February 6 week, as the January 9 week's 283,000 level rolled out of the calculation.
The level of continuing claims fell by 21,000 to 2.239 million in the January 30 week. Before seasonal adjustment, continuing claims were down 21,745 to 2.667 million.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 1.6% in the January 30 week from 1.7% in the previous week. The rate was at 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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