Unemployment Claims at 6-Week High

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose again last week to their highest level in six weeks and well above pre-pandemic levels, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

For the week ending April 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims rose to 242,000, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The four-week moving average rose to 239,250, an increase of 3,500 from the previous week’s revised average.

Reuters reported claims have fluctuated between 194,000-247,000 this year, reflecting a rise in layoffs as the lagged and cumulative effects of the Federal Reserve’s fastest interest rate hiking campaign since the 1980s. Despite this, the labor market remains tight: on Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported job openings continue to outpace the number of unemployed persons, with 1.6 job openings for every unemployed person in March.

BLS reported the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 1.2 percent for the week ending April 22, 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 April 22 fell to 1,805,000, a decrease of 38,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The four-week moving average fell to 1,828,250, a decrease of 4,500 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 219,619 in the week ending April 29, a decrease of 5,518 (-2.5 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 196,422 initial claims in the comparable week in 2022.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.2 percent during the week ending April 22. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 1,692,746, a decrease of 60,011 (or -3.4 percent) from the preceding week. A year earlier the rate was 1.0 percent; volume was 1,403,640.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending April 15 was 1,779,249, a decrease of 36,249 from the previous week. Labor reported 1,477,620 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2022.

This morning, BLS releases its monthly Employment report for April. MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni will provide commentary and analysis in the Monday, May 8 edition of MBA NewsLink.