Initial jobless claims came in at 212,000 for the week ending May 11, a sharper than expected decline of 16,000 beating the consensus forecast. The 4-week moving average ticked up to 225,000, an increase of 4,750 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 220,250.
| Prior | Consensus Forecast | Forecast Range | Actual | |
| Initial Jobless Claims | 228K | 219K | 210K — 221K | 212K |
No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending April 27.
In lagging data, the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at a very low 1.2% for the week ending May 4.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 4 came in at 1,660,000, a decline of 28,000. The 4-week moving average rose to 1,668,250, an increase of just 1,500.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 27 were in Alaska (2.5), New Jersey (2.2), California (2.0), Connecticut (1.9), Pennsylvania (1.7), Puerto Rico (1.7), Illinois (1.6), Massachusetts (1.6), Rhode Island (1.6), New York (1.5), and Washington (1.5).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 4 were in New York (+9,365), Illinois (+2,010), Missouri (+791), Kansas (+754), and Iowa (+676), while the largest decreases were in New Jersey (-6,239), Connecticut (-3,208), California (-1,920), Arizona (-668), and Wisconsin (-661).
John Scott / May 27, 2019
How completely unexpected! Obama’s green shoots are paying off. The summer of JOBS is upon us. This is not only unexpected, it is almost impossible to believe. Trump is the luckiest man alive to have followed on the heels of Obama and Biden’s economic brilliance!
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Dan Bozza / May 27, 2019
Trump must have TWO magic wands it’s so unbelievable!
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Havermeyer / May 29, 2019
These people doing “expected” kinda suck.
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