Initial Claims Down 17,000

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell for the first time in three weeks, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

For the week ending February 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 232,000, a decrease of 17,000 from the previous week, which revised up by 1,000 from 248,000 to 249,000. The four-week moving average fell to 236,250, a decrease of 7,250 from the previous week’s revised average.

Courtesy U.S. Department of Labor.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.1 percent for the week ending February 12. The previous week’s rate revised down by 0.1 from 1.2 to 1.1 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 12 fell to 1,476,000, a decrease of 112,000 from the previous week’s revised number to its lowest level since March 14, 1970, when it was 1,456,000. The previous week’s level revised down by 5,000 from 1,593,000 to 1,588,000. The four-week moving average fell to 1,576,000, a decrease of 49,000 from the previous week’s revised average to its lowest level since June 30, 1973, when it was 1,570,000.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 214,873 in the week ending February 19, a decrease of 24,824 (10.4 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 7,928 (3.3 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 716,559 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.4 percent for the week ending February 12. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 1,912,532, a decrease of 57,726 (2.9 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 54,377 (2.8 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 3.4 percent, and the volume was 4,828,682.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending February 5 fell to 2,032,667, a decrease of 30,906 from the previous week. Labor reported 19,883,148 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.