Initial Claims Down 16,000

In the third of four major jobs report this week, the Labor Department on Thursday said initial claims for unemployment insurance fell by 16,000 from the previous week.

For the week ending November 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 225,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The four-week moving average rose 228,750, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.1 percent for the week ending November 19. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending November 19 rose to 1,608,000, an increase of 57,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 1,551,000 to its highest level since February. The four-week moving average rose to 1,538,750, an increase of 30,250 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 198,557 in the week ending November 26, a decrease of 50,512 (-20.3 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 36,578 (-14.7 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 216,685 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 0.9 percent during the week ending November 19. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 1,260,367, a decrease of 81,475 (-6.1 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 125,652 (-9.4 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.2 percent; volume was 1,561,256.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending November 12 rose to 1,367,913, an increase of 115,477 from the previous week. Labor reported 2,298,126 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.

The parade of reports concludes Friday, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its November Employment Situation report. MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni will provide commentary and analysis on Friday’s jobs report in the Monday, Dec. 5 edition of MBA NewsLink.