Initial Claims Down 23,000

Ahead of this morning’s employment numbers, the Labor Department reported initial claims for unemployment insurance fell by 23,000 last week.

For the week ending January 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 238,000, a decrease of 23,000 from the previous week, which revised up by 1,000 from 260,000 to 261,000. The four-week moving average rose 255,000, an increase of 7,750 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.2 percent for the week ending January 22. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 22 fell to 1,628,000, a decrease of 44,000 from the previous week, which revised down by 3,000 from 1,675,000 to 1,672,000. The four-week moving average fell to 1,619,750, a decrease of 31,250 from the previous week’s revised average to its the lowest level since August 4, 1973, when it was 1,608,750.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 257,002 in the week ending January 29, a decrease of 11,728 (4.4 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 11,183 (4.2 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 849,650 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate rose to 1.5 percent for the week ending January 22, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 2,040,548, an increase of 39,320 (2.0 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 83,384 (4.2 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 3.7 percent and volume was 5,193,816.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending January 15 fell to 2,067,781, a decrease of 73,205 from the previous week. Labor reported 18,521,105 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.

This morning (8:30 a.m. ET), The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its January Employment report, which has shown disappointing numbers over the past several months, in part not because of available jobs but the inability to fill those jobs.

MBA NewsLink will provide coverage in the Monday, Feb. 7 edition, with analysis and commentary from MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni.