US jobless claims total higher-than-expected 229,000 last week

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Yahoo Finance

US jobless claims total higher-than-expected 229,000 last week

Alexandra Semenova · Reporter
Thu, June 16, 2022, 7:38 AM · 1 min read

Initial jobless claims ticked down last week, but were higher than forecast, as investors monitor the labor market for potential signs of a slowdown.

First-time unemployment filings in the U.S. totaled 229,000 for the week ended June 11, falling from the prior week's upwardly revised 232,000. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the latest reading to come in at 217,000.

Last week's total marked the highest level since mid-January when the Omicron-driven wave of COVID-19 sent droves of employees home from work.

The most recent data also brings the four-week moving average for new claims — which smooths out volatility in the weekly data — to 1,317,500, a decrease of 750 from the previous week's revised average.

(This post is breaking. Please check back for updates.)

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jobless-claims-june-16-2022-123826696.html

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US Jobless Claims Edge Lower, Reflecting Tight Labor Market

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-16/us-jobless-claims-edge-lower-reflecting-tight-labor-market

By Reade Pickert
June 16, 2022, 12:32 PM UTC

Applications for US unemployment insurance were little changed last week, suggesting the labor market remains exceptionally tight.

Initial unemployment claims decreased by 3,000 to 229,000 in the week ended June 11, Labor Department data showed Thursday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 217,000.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. From the source:

https://oui.doleta.gov/press/2022/061622.pdf

https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf

News Release

Connect with DOL at
https://blog.dol.gov

TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL
8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, June 16, 2022

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending June 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 229,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 3,000 from 229,000 to 232,000. The 4-week moving average was 218,500, an increase of 2,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 750 from 215,000 to 215,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 0.9 percent for the week ending June 4, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending June 4 was 1,312,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up 3,000 from 1,306,000 to 1,309,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,317,500, a decrease of 750 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since January 10, 1970 when it was 1,310,250. The previous week's average was revised up by 750 from 1,317,500 to 1,318,250.

{snip}

UNADJUSTED DATA

{snip}

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending May 28 was 1,282,096, a decrease of 1,441 from the previous week. There were 14,841,248 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.

{snip the rest of the ten-page news release, until the end}

Weekly Claims Archives
Weekly Claims Data

U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The Department's Reasonable Accommodation Resource Center converts Departmental information and documents into alternative formats, which include Braille and large print. For alternative format requests, please contact the Department at [phone] (voice) or [phone] (federal relay).

U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Washington, D.C. 20210
Release Number: USDL 22-1227-NAT

Program Contacts:
Kevin Stapleton: [phone]
Media Contact: [phone]

[progree]

2. "the four-week moving average for new claims ... to 1,317,500," and BTW, another 5+ decade low

Last edited Thu Jun 16, 2022, 10:48 PM - Edit history (1)

The most recent data also brings the four-week moving average for new claims — which smooths out volatility in the weekly data — to 1,317,500, a decrease of 750 from the previous week's revised average.

I dunno. I've never heard what is often called continuing claims and what the DOL release calls insured unemployment -- I've never heard it called "new claims". Some of these claims are months old.

"Initial claims", "new claims", whatever claims, whatever.

Anyhoo, according to https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf in Reply #1 - speaking of insured unemployment -

The 4-week moving average was 1,317,500, a decrease of 750 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since January 10, 1970 when it was 1,310,250

another buried factoid that I guess nobody gives a fat whatever about.

One might add that the labor force back then was about half the size of the one now, and thus the current unemployment claims RATE is about half of what it was back then, something that is almost never ever mentioned, because,

Oops, Very late edit to add the word "claims" in the above sentence. The current unemployment rate is NOT half of what it was back then, its about in the same ballpark. It's the unemployment CLAIMS rate that is now about half of what it was back then.