Jobless Claims Increase to 354,000; Above Expectations

In the week ending May 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 354,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 344,000, the Department of Labor reported Thursday. Economists were expecting claims to print at 340,000. The 4-week moving average was 347,250, an increase of 6,750 from the previous week's revised average of 340,500. The four-week moving average smooths out volatility in the weekly numbers, making this a preferred measure for many analysts. The closure of state offices for Memorial Day may have hampered counting some claims, though the Labor Department did not cite any special factors in their press release. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent for the week ending May 18, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate. (These data are reported with a one-week lag.) The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 18 was 2,986,000, an increase of 63,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,923,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,986,500, a decrease of 11,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,998,000. The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending May 11 was 4,578,592, a decrease of 166,659 from the previous week. There were 6,138,246 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2012. These include the regular claims provided by states as well as emergency benefits provided by the federal government. States reported 1,726,659 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending May 11, a decrease of 50,027 from the prior week. (These data are reported with a two-week lag.) There were 2,618,445 persons claiming EUC in the comparable week in 2012. The decline in EUC benefits is not necessarily because all of these folks dropping off the benefits rosters found jobs; some of them saw their benefits expire, especially as sequester takes effect and limits the amount and duration of some of these federally-provided emergency benefits. The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending May 11 were in Alaska (4.9 percent), Puerto Rico (4.5), New Jersey (3.1), New Mexico (3.1), Connecticut (3.0), California (2.9), Pennsylvania (2.9), Nevada (2.8), Oregon (2.8), Illinois (2.7). The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 18 were in South Carolina (+1,263), Tennessee (+1,191), Missouri (+785), Michigan (+634), and Massachusetts (+610), while the largest decreases were in California (-16,334), Georgia (-1,802), Illinois (-1,198), Kentucky (-902), and Ohio (-623).