U.S. Jobless Claims Held Near Historic Lows Last Week

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: The Wall Street Journal.

ECONOMY * U.S. ECONOMY

U.S. Jobless Claims Held Near Historic Lows Last Week

Employers continued to avoid layoffs in a tight labor market that is also showing signs of cooling

By Sarah Chaney Cambon
https://twitter.com/sechaney
[e-mail]
Updated June 23, 2022 8:52 am ET

New applications for unemployment benefits ticked down last week and hovered near historic lows, a sign the U.S. labor market remains tight despite indications of an economic slowdown.

Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell to a seasonally adjusted 229,000 last week from the previous week’s revised level of 231,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That is slightly above the 2019 prepandemic weekly average of 218,000, when the job market was also historically tight.

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Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-jobless-claims-held-near-historic-lows-last-week-11655988260

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. From the source:

https://oui.doleta.gov/press/2022/062322.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 23, 2022

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending June 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 229,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 229,000 to 231,000. The 4-week moving average was 223,500, an increase of 4,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 218,500 to 219,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 0.9 percent for the week ending June 11, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending June 11 was 1,315,000, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 2,000 from 1,312,000 to 1,310,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,310,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since January 3, 1970 when it was 1,280,250. The previous week's average was revised down by 500 from 1,317,500 to 1,317,000.

{snip}

UNADJUSTED DATA

{snip}

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending June 4 was 1,296,581, an increase of 14,479 from the previous week. There were 14,839,818 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 22-1300-NAT

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

[progree]

2. So, the 4 week average of continuing claims, at 1.310 million is lowest since 1/3/70

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 0.9 percent for the week ending June 11, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending June 11 was 1,315,000, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 2,000 from 1,312,000 to 1,310,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,310,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since January 3, 1970 when it was 1,280,250. The previous week's average was revised down by 500 from 1,317,500 to 1,317,000.

insured unemployment is often called continuing claims

So, in a nutshell:

Initial claims: 231k -> 229k,
. . . 4 week average: 219k -> 223.5k

Continuing Claims: 1.310m ->1.315m
. . . 4 week average: 1.317m -> 1.310m (lowest since 1/3/70)