Initial Claims Down 1,000
In the third of four major jobs reports this week, the Labor Department on Thursday reported initial claims for unemployment insurance fell by 1,000 last week, reflecting continued strong demand for jobs despite inflation pressures.
For the week ending October 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 217,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The four-week moving average fell to 218,750, a decrease of 500 from the previous week’s revised average.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.0 percent for the week ending October 22. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending October 22 rose to 1,485,000, an increase of 47,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 1,438,000. The four-week moving average rose to 1,417,500, an increase of 30,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 1,387,500.
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 185,594 in the week ending October 29, an increase of 1,174 (0.6 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 2,182 (1.2 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 241,719 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 0.9 percent during the week ending October 22. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 1,238,290, an increase of 11,449 (0.9 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 27,327 (-2.2 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.4 percent; volume was 1,885,013.
The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending October 15 rose to 1,250,555, an increase of 28,929 from the previous week. Labor reported 2,672,972 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.
The job reports parade ends this morning when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its monthly Employment Situation report on October jobs. Mortgage Bankers Association Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni will provide commentary and analysis in the Monday, Nov. 7 edition of MBA NewsLink.
On Tuesday, BLS released its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), showing Job openings in September jumped by more than a half-million from August. BLS reported 1.9 job openings for every available U.S. worker. On Wednesday, ADP, Roseland, N.J. reported October private-sector employment rose by 239,000.
