Initial Claims Tick up from 50-Year Lows

Initial claims for unemployment insurance reached a 52-year low last week—a pace that couldn’t be sustained in an otherwise positive week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

For the week ending March 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims rose to 202,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week’s level, which revised up by 1,000 from 187,000 to 188,000. The four-week moving average fell to 208,500, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 0.9 percent for the week ending March 19, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 19 fell to 1,307,000, a decrease of 35,000 from the previous week to its lowest level since December 27, 1969, when it was 1,304,000. The four-week moving average fell to 1,389,000, a decrease of 40,500 from the previous week’s revised average to its lowest level since February 7, 1970, when it was 1,385,250.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 195,460 in the week ending March 26, an increase of 13,121 (7.2 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 777 (0.4 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 723,653 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.2 percent during the week ending March 19. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 1,675,898, a decrease of 46,306 (2.7 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 11,326 (0.7 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 2.9 percent; volume was 4,102,303.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending March 12 was 1,775,826, a decrease of 81,975 from the previous week. Labor reported 18,463,788 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.

On Friday (8:30 a.m. ET), the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its monthly Employment Situation report for March data; last month, BLS reported employers added 678,000 jobs in February. MBA NewsLink will provide coverage of the Friday jobs report in its Monday, Apr.4 edition, with commentary and analysis from MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni.