WASHINGTON — Initial claims U.S. state unemployment benefits fell by 2,000 to 210,000 in the August 18 week, below the 215,000 level expected by analysts in an MNI survey following no revision to the 212,000 level in the previous week, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.
A better measure for the underlying trend of the data is the four-week moving average for initial claims. The average fell by 1,750 to 213,750 in the August 18 week.
If the number of headline claims does not change next week and there are no revisions to data from the past four weeks, the four-week average would fall by 2,250 as the 219,000 level in the July 28 week rolls out of the calculation, keeping the average below its year ago level.
Seasonal adjustment factors had expected a decrease of 2.7%, or 4,883 in unadjusted claims. Unadjusted claims however, actually saw a decrease of 3.9%, or 7,107 to 172,932. The current week's level was well below the 195,130 level in the comparable week a year ago.
The level of continuing claims fell by 2,000 to 1.727 million in the August 11 week. Before seasonal adjustment, continuing claims fell by 10,557 to 1.668 million, remaining below the 1.886 million level seen in the comparable week last year.
The four-week average for continuing claims, which tends to be a more reliable measure as continuing claims consistently fluctuate week-to-week, fell by 5,000 to 1.736 million.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate stayed at 1.2% in the August 11 week, down from the 1.4% in the same week a year earlier, reinforcing that the level of insured unemployment is particularly low.
Claims were estimated for Maine only.
The unemployment rate among the insured labor force is well below that reported monthly by the Labor Department because claims are approved for the most part only for job losers, not the job leavers and labor force reentrants included in the monthly report.
