WASHINGTON — Initial claims U.S. state unemployment benefits rose by 3,000 to 231,000 in the June 30 week, above the 224,000 level expected by analysts in an MNI survey following an a slight upward revision to claims in the previous week, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.
A better measure for the underlying trend of the data is the four-week moving average for initial claims. The average rose by 2,250 to 224,500 in the June 30 week.
If the number of headline claims does not change next week and there are no revisions to data from the past four weeks, the four-week average would rise by 2,500 as the 221,000 level in the June 9 week rolls out of the calculation, still keeping the average below its year ago level.
Seasonal adjustment factors had expected a decrease of 2.1%, or 4,778 in unadjusted claims. Unadjusted claims however, actually saw an increase of 3.7%, or 8,306 to 231,072. The current week's level was well below the 252,886 level in the comparable week a year ago.
The level of continuing claims rose by 32,000 to 1.739 million in the June 23 week. Before seasonal adjustment, continuing claims rose by 57,195 to 1.643 million, still remaining below the 1.867 million level seen in the comparable week last year.
The four-week average for continuing claims, which tends to be a more reliable measure as the continuing claims consistently fluctuate week-to-week, fell by 1,750 to 1.718 million, making it again the lowest point since the Dec. 8, 1973, week.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate stayed at 1.2% in the June 23 week, down from the 1.4% in the same week a year earlier, reinforcing that the level of insured unemployment is particularly low. This is the eighth week in a row that it has remained at this level.
Claims were estimated for Maine only.
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.
