WASHINGTON — Initial claims U.S. state unemployment benefits rose by 10,000 to 249,000 in the November 11 week, well ahead of the 235,000 level expected, while the four-week average rose for the first time since late September after hitting a 44-year low in the previous week, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.
The four-week moving average for initial claims, a better measure of the underlying trend of the data, rose by 6,500 to 237,750 in the November 11 week as the recent-low 223,000 level in the October 14 week rolled out of the equation. This is still close to the decades-low level in the previous 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 will rose by 3,750 as the 234,000 level in the October 21 week rolls out of the calculation.
The Labor Department reported that backlogged claims filings in Puerto Rico continued to be processed, while claims in the Virgin Islands were still "severely disrupted." Unadjusted claims in Puerto Rico totaled 6,565 in the current week after 8,281 in the previous week.
Seasonal adjustment factors had expected a decrease of 7.4%, or 17,941, in unadjusted claims in the current week. Instead, unadjusted claim fell by 9,018 to 233,060, so the current week's level was actually above the 223,750 level a year ago. The timing of Veteran's Day could account for some of this week's year/year rise.
The level of continuing claims fell by 44,000 to 1.860 million in the November 4 week, the lowest level since the December 29, 1973 week, when it was 1.805 million.
Unadjusted continuing claims fell by 15,835 to 1.614 million in the week, still well below the 1.741 million level a year earlier. The four-week moving average for continuing claims fell by 9,000 to 1.887 million, the lowest since the January 12, 1974 week, when it was 1.881 million.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 1.3% in the November 4 week from 1.4% in the previous week. The current week's rate is down from 1.5% in the same week a year earlier.
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.
