WASHINGTON — Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell by 19,000 to 234,000 in the February 2 week, above expectations for a 221,000 level, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.
The level of claims was unrevised in the January 26 week from the previously reported 253,000 level. Initial unadjusted claims for federal employees filing in federal programs, which does not feed into the headline number, fell by 8,070 to 6,669 in the January 26 week, compared to 1,919 in the comparable week last year.
Since the partial government shutdown ended on January 25, this should be the last week that it affects the reported number of federal employees filing in federal programs.
A better measure for the underlying trend of the data is the four-week moving average for initial claims. The average rose by 4,500 to 224,750 in the February 2 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 rise by 5,500 as the 212,000 level in the January 12 week rolls out of the calculation.
Seasonal adjustment factors had expected an increase of 9.2%, or 23,055 in unadjusted claims. However, claims actually posted an increase of 1.0%, or 2,589 to 253,410. The current week's level was above the 242,962 level in the comparable week a year ago.
The level of continuing claims fell by 42,000 to 1.736 million in the January 26 week. Before seasonal adjustment, continuing claims fell by 25,538 to 2.099 million, below the 2.311 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, rose by 4,250 to 1.741 million.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.2% in the January 26 week, 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.
