WASHINGTON — The level of initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits was less than expected in the January 18 employment survey week, rising by only 1,000 to 326,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Expectations for this week's report was for a claims level of 330,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previously reported 326,000 level in January 11 week. The initial claims level in that week was revised slightly lower to 325,000.
The level of initial claims in the January 18 week was down 54,000 from the 380,000 level in the December 14 employment survey week.
A Labor Department analyst said that two states were estimated in the week, the District of Columbia and Kentucky. Both states were impacted by the Monday holiday, which shortened the reporting period for this week's data. In addition, a major snowstorm effectively shutdown D.C. on Tuesday, further impacting claims in that city.
The initial claims seasonally adjusted 4-week moving average fell 3,750 to 331,500 in the January 18 week, a third straight decline.
Unadjusted claims typically decline in the last two weeks of January after spiking to their highest levels of the year earlier in the month due to post-holiday layoffs.
The analyst said that seasonal adjustment factors had expected a 23.2% drop in unadjusted claims, or roughly 123,355, in the January 18 week. Unadjusted claims actually fell 22.7%, or 121,020, to 411,678, close to what the seasonal factors had expected. That level is below the 436,955 claims reported in the comparable week a year ago.
The state data released for the January 11 week indicated unadjusted initial claims increased in 39 states and declined in 14 states, with no states unchanged. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands are included in this data.
Continuing claims rose 34,000 to 3.056 million in the January 11 week, the highest level since the July 6, 2013 week, when they hit 3.123 million
The level of unadjusted continuing claims fell 65,558 to 3.563 million in the January 11 week, below the 3.711 million level in the comparable week a year ago.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment held steady at 2.3% in the January 11 week, below the seasonally adjusted 2.5% rate 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.
The Labor Department said that the level of unadjusted Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits claims zeroed out to start the New Year.
Due to the removal of the EUC program's participants, the Labor Department reported that a total of 3,706,087 persons claimed unemployment benefits in the January 4 week, a decline of 1,003,734 from the previous week, and still well below the 5,659,482 persons in the comparable week a year ago. These data are not seasonally adjusted, and include regular state claims, federal employee claims, new veterans claims, the EUC and extended benefits programs, state additional benefits, and STC/Workshare claims.
Market News International is a real-time global news service for fixed-income and foreign exchange market professionals. See
