Initial Claims Fall from Last Week

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

For the week ending September 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims equaled 193,000, down 16,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The four-week moving average fell to 207,000, a decrease of 8750 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate held at 1.0 percent for the week ending September 17, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending September 17 fell to 1,347,000, a decrease of 29,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The four-week moving average fell to 1,381,250, a decrease of 22,500 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 156,060 in the week ending September 24, an increase of 12,642 or -7.5 percent from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 419, or 0.2 percent, from the previous week. Labor reported 301,143 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 0.9 percent during the week ending September 17. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 1,226,160, a decrease of 52,596 or -4.1 percent from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 26,153, or 2.0 percent, from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.8 percent; volume was 2,472,303.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending September 10 increased to 1,302,353, up 6855 from the previous week. Labor reported 5,027,611 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.