Initial Claims Rise to 4-Month High

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose for the third time in four weeks and climbed to their highest level since October, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

For the week ending January 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims rose to 286,000, an increase of 55,000 from the previous week, which revised up by 1,000 from 230,000 to 231,000. The four-week moving average rose to 231,000, an increase of 20,000 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate rose to 1.2 percent for the week ending January 8, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 8 rose to 1,635,000, an increase of 84,000 from the previous week, which revised down by 8,000 from 1,559,000 to 1,551,000. The four-week moving average fell to 1,664,250, a decrease of 55,250 from the previous week’s revised average to its lowest level since April 27, 2019, when it was 1,663,500.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 337,417 in the week ending January 15, a decrease of 83,418 (19.8 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 138,773 (or -33.0 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 937,313 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.5 percent during the week ending January 8. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 2,075,750, an increase of 26,126 (1.3 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 57,330 (2.8 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 3.9 percent and the volume was 5,479,170.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending January 1 rose to 2,128,752, an increase of 180,114 from the previous week. Labor reported 16,946,982 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs

in the comparable week in 2021.