WASHINGTON – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits rose 10,000, a tad higher than expected, to a level of 268,000 in the June 25 week, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.
Expectations for this week's data were for an adjusted claims level of 265,000, which would have been up 6,000 from the previous week's estimated level. That week's level was revised down to 258,000.
The latest seasonally adjusted four-week moving average was unchanged from the previous week's average of 266,750.
The Labor Department said there were no special factors in this week's claims data and only Georgia's data had to be estimated.
Seasonal adjustment factors had expected an increase of 1.2% or 3,098 unadjusted claims and instead there was an increase of 5.3% or 13,055.
The current week's level was still much lower than the 280,000 level in the comparable week a year ago and marked the continuation of a trend of moderation below 300,000 that has now lasted 69 weeks, the longest such streak since 1973, the report said. So far this year the peak week for adjusted claims was that of May 7, at 294,000.
The level of continuing claims for the June 25 week fell 20,000 to 2.120 million and the Jun 11 week was revised down 2,000 to 2.140 million. The four-week moving average of 2.134 million is the lowest level since November 11, 2000, when it was 2.120 million.
Without seasonal adjustment, continuing claims for the June 25 week fell 28,711 to 1,965,630 compared to the year-earlier figure of 2,106,077.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate ticked back down a tenth to 1.5%, matching the record low set in the May 28 week. A year earlier the rate was 1.7%.
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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