WASHINGTON — Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell by 13,000 to 199,000 in the Jan. 19 week, well below expectations for a 210,000 level, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.
The level of claims was revised down to 212,000 in the Jan. 12 week from the previously reported 213,000 level. Initial claims for federal employees filing in federal programs rose by 14,965 to 25,419 in the Jan. 12 week, compared to 1,658 in the comparable week last year. This number is likely to rise in the coming weeks as more furloughed workers file due to the continued partial government shutdown.
A better measure for the underlying trend of the data is the four-week moving average for initial claims. The average fell by 5,500 to 215,000 in the Jan. 19 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 8,500 as the 233,000 level in the Dec. 29 week rolls out of the calculation.
Seasonal adjustment factors had expected a decrease of 17.1%, or 58,793 in unadjusted claims. However, claims actually posted a decrease of 22.2%, or 76,558 to 267,921. The current week's level was above the 260,070 level in the comparable week a year ago.
The level of continuing claims fell by 24,000 to 1.713 million in the Jan. 12 week. Before seasonal adjustment, continuing claims fell by 83,188 to 2.090 million, below the 2.288 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 1,250 to 1.730 million.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.2% in the Jan. 12 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.
