Jobless Claims Lower than Forecast, Indicating Strong Monthly Labor Report

The Labor Department said Thursday first-time jobless claims rose less than expected for the week ending August 19, by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 234,000. No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending August 5.

Last week was unrevised at 232,000.

The four-week moving average was 237,750, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 240,500.

Continuing claims also remained very positive, unchanged at 1.954 million in lagging data for the week ending August 12. Worth noting, that same week was the sample period for the August employment report.

This four-week average for continuing claims was down slightly to 1.958 million for the lowest reading since early July. The unemployment rate for insured workers is only 1.4%.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending August 5 were in Puerto Rico (3.8), New Jersey (2.7), Connecticut (2.4), Pennsylvania (2.2), Alaska (2.1), California (2.0), Rhode Island (2.0), Massachusetts (1.9), Illinois (1.8), Nevada (1.7), New York (1.7).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending August 12 were in Michigan (+672), New York (+311), Minnesota (+262), Tennessee (+154), and Idaho (+122), while the largest decreases were in California (-2,451), Kansas (-2,269), Missouri (-1,318), Kentucky (-1,164), and South Carolina (-987).