WASHINGTON — Initial claims U.S. state unemployment benefits rose by only 2,000 to 211,000 in the April 28 week, well below the 225,000 level expected by analysts in an MNI survey and suggesting that last week's dip to 45-year low was not a fluke, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.
The four-week moving average for initial claims, which tends to be a better measure of the underlying trend of the data, fell by 7,750 to 221,500 in the April 28 week a second straight decline that takes the average to its lowest point since the March 3, 1973 week, when it was slightly lower at 221,250.
Even that low could be breached next 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 will fall by 5,500 as the 233,000 level in the April 7 week rolls out of the calculation.
Seasonal adjustment factors had expected a decrease of 7.7%, or 15,470, in unadjusted claims. Instead, unadjusted claims fell by 14,016 (7.0%) to 186,049. The current week's level was well below the 210,955 level in the comparable week a year ago.
The only states where claims were estimated were again Colorado and Maine. However, the claims taking procedures in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico have still not returned to normal.
The level of continuing claims fell by 77,000 to 1.756 million in the April 21 week, a third straight decline that returns the level to its lowest point since the Dec. 8, 1973 week, when it was 1.717 million.
Before seasonal adjustment, continuing claims fell by 129,463 to 1.735 million, well below the 1.949 million level seen in the comparable week last year.
The four-week average for continuing claims, a more reliable measure when the continuing claims are rapidly moving week-to-week, fell by 15,500 to 1.833 million, the lowest point since the Dec. 29, 1973.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 1.2% in the April 21 week, down from 1.3% in the previous week and 1.4% in the same 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.
