U.S. Jobless Claims Tick Down Last Week

[mahatmakanejeeves]

U.S. Jobless Claims Tick Down Last Week

March 2, 2023 at 8:48 a.m. ET
By Bryan Mena

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits edged lower last week, reflecting a persistently tight labor market.

Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, decreased by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 190,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Weekly claims have remained below the 2019 prepandemic average of about 220,000 since the start of the year.

The four-week moving average of weekly claims, which smooths out volatility, rose slightly to 193,000.

Thursday's report showed continuing claims, a proxy for the total number of ongoing unemployment benefits payments, decreased by 5,000 to 1.655 million in the week ended Feb. 18. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.

The level of continuing claims is somewhat elevated from a low point of about 1.3 million last spring. Modestly elevated continuing claims could be a sign some beneficiaries are taking longer to find new jobs.

Write to Bryan Mena at [e-mail]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. From the source:

https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OPA/newsreleases/ui-claims/20230425.pdf

https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf

News Release

Connect with DOL at
https://blog.dol.gov

TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL
8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, March 2, 2023

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending February 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 190,000, a decrease of
2,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 192,000. The 4-week moving average was 193,000, an increase of
1,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 191,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.1 percent for the week ending February 18,
unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured
unemployment during the week ending February 18 was 1,655,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's
revised level. The previous week's level was revised up 6,000 from 1,654,000 to 1,660,000. The 4-week moving average
was 1,671,500, an increase of 1,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised
up by 1,500 from 1,668,750 to 1,670,250.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 201,710 in the week ending
February 25, a decrease of 9,297 (or -4.4 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease
of 6,540 (or -3.1 percent) from the previous week. There were 196,047 initial claims in the comparable week in 2022.

{snip}

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending February 11 was
1,959,037, a decrease of 20,276 from the previous week. There were 1,971,285 weekly claims filed for benefits in all
programs in the comparable week in 2022.

{snip the rest of the nine-page news release, until the end}

Weekly Claims Archives
Weekly Claims Data

U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The Department's Reasonable Accommodation Resource Center converts Departmental information and documents into alternative formats, which include Braille and large print. For alternative format requests, please contact the Department at [phone] (voice) or [phone] (federal relay).

U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Washington, D.C. 20210
Release Number: USDL 23-425-NAT

Program Contacts:
Kevin Stapleton: [phone]
Media Contact: [phone]