Jobless Claims Rise Unexpectedly for Week Ending February 9, Labor Demand Remains Solid

Initial jobless claims came in at a seasonally adjusted initial 239,000 for the week ending February 9, unexpectedly rising by 4,000. The 4-week moving average rose 6,750 to 231,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at a very low 1.2% for the week ending February 2. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rose 37,000 during the week ending February 2 to 1,773,000.

The 4-week moving average rose 9,000 to 1,750,250.

No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending January 26.

Despite the unexpected gain, claims are still well below the 300,000 threshold indicating a tight labor market. The JOLTS report released earlier this week found the U.S. economy currently has a record high number of job openings.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending January 26 were in Alaska (3.3), New Jersey (2.8), Rhode Island (2.6), Connecticut (2.5), Montana (2.5), Massachusetts (2.3), Pennsylvania (2.3), Illinois (2.2), Minnesota (2.2), and West Virginia (2.2).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending February 2 were in Pennsylvania (+5,013), Wisconsin (+4,470), New York (+3,680), Texas (+1,682), and Oregon (+981), while the largest decreases were in California (-7,982), New Jersey (-1,227), Missouri (-1,023), Virginia (-785), and Florida (-716).