WASHINGTON — Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell by 1,000 to 214,000 in the November 3 week, slightly above expectations for a 213,000 level and showing diminishing signs of an impact from Hurricane Michael in Florida and Georgia, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.
Unadjusted claims were down 1,496 in Florida and down 617 in Georgia, but could increase in the coming weeks as workers return to the affected areas. Still, it appears that the impacts from Hurricane Michael continue to fade.
A better measure for the underlying trend of the data is the four-week moving average for initial claims. The average fell by 250 to 213,750.
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 rise by 1,000 as the 210,000 level in the October 13 week rolls out of the calculation.
Seasonal adjustment factors had expected an increase of 8.4%, or 16,759 in unadjusted claims. However, claims actually posted an increase of 7.8%, or 15,448, to 213,978. The current week's level was below the 242,111 level in the comparable week a year ago.
The level of continuing claims fell by 8,000 to 1.623 million in the October 27 week. This is the lowest level for continuing claims since the July 28, 1973 week when it was 1.603 million.
Before seasonal adjustment, continuing claims rose by 2,953 to 1.386 million, remaining well below the 1.632 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 7,500 to 1.633 million, the lowest level since the August 11, 1973 week when it was 1.627 million.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate remained at 1.1% in the October 27 week, and is down from 1.4% in the same week a year earlier, reinforcing that the level of insured unemployment is extremely low.
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.
