US weekly unemployment claims unexpectedly fall

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims unexpectedly fall last week, reaching 243,000. Initial claims were 233,000, marking a decline of 17,000 from the week before. About half that decrease came from Texas.

The previous week’s level was revised up by 1,000 from 249,000 to reach 250,000. The four-week moving average stood at 240,750, an increase of 2,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was also revised up by 250 from 238,000 to 238,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending July 27, marking no change from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 27 stood at 1,875,000, marking an increase of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the highest level for insured unemployment since November 27, 2021 when it stood at 1,878,000. The previous week’s level was revised down by 8,000 from 1,877,000 to reach 1,869,000. The four-week moving average was 1,862,000, representing an increase of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the highest level for this average since November 27, 2021 when it stood at 1,928,000. The previous week’s average was revised down by 2,000 from 1,857,000 to reach 1,855,000.

Unadjusted Data

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programmes, unadjusted, totaled 203,054 in the week ending August 3, marking a decrease of 13,589 (or -6.3 percent) from the previous week.

The largest rises in initial claims for the week ending July 27 were in Michigan (+4,027), Missouri (+3,410), Massachusetts (+2,127), Virginia (+637), and Minnesota (+487), while the largest decreases were in Texas (-6,607), New York (-2,396), Ohio (-2,377), Florida (-1,587), and Tennessee (-1,488).

Attribution: The US Labour Department data