Firing Rate, Jobless Claims Fall More than Forecast for Weekly Ending September 17

The Labor Department said weekly jobless claims for the week ending September 17 fell by 8,000 to 252,000 last week, lower than the estimate for 262,000. The prior week was unchanged at 260,000.

The four-week moving average–widely considered a more stable gauge–was 258,500, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 260,750. The report marks 81 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000, which is the longest streak since 1970. However, as PPD has repeatedly reported, long-term unemployment has simply shrunk the pool of eligible applicants for first-time unemployment benefits.

A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims and no state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending September 3.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending September 3 were in Puerto Rico (2.7), New Jersey (2.6), Alaska (2.5), Connecticut (2.2), Pennsylvania (2.1), California (2.0), the Virgin Islands (1.9), West Virginia (1.9), Massachusetts (1.8), and New York (1.8).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending September 10 were in Virginia (+1,051), Oklahoma (+434), Wisconsin (+268), West Virginia (+178), and Minnesota (+93), while the largest decreases were in California (-4,627), Illinois (-4,389), Pennsylvania (-2,810), Texas (-2,635), and New York (-1,730).