Initial Claims Down Another 16,000

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell for the second straight week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

For the week ending February 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 223,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week, which revised up by 1,000 from 238,000 to 239,000. The four-week moving average fell to 253,250, a decrease of 2,000 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 29. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 29 was unchanged at 1,621,000. The four-week moving average rose to 1,634,500, an increase of 16,500 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 228,909 in the week ending February 5, a decrease of 28,674 (11.1 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 13,497 (5.2 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 868,053 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 1.4 percent during the week ending January 29, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 2,000,770, a decrease of 33,761 (1.7 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 32,877 (1.6 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 3.5 percent and the volume was 5,038,663.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending January 22 was 2,099,857, an increase of 32,069 from the previous week. Labor reported 20,242,844 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.