–Minnesota Shutdown Adds 11,500 to Week’s NSA Claims
–Upward Revision of Previous Week Slightly Larger Than Usual

By Denny Gulino, Brai Odion-Esene and Ian McKendry

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment
benefits fell 22,000 in the July 9 week to 405,000 after seasonal
adjustment, despite an increased number of Minnesota state employee
claims, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Economists surveyed by Market News International had expected
initial claims to come in at 410,000, 8,000 less than the originally
reported 418,000 total for the July 2 week.

The latest report showed that figure revised higher by 9,000, a
revision “a little larger than usual,” the Labor Department analyst
said, “mostly from California and Kentucky” which, because of the July 4
holiday, had trouble getting their reports in to Washington by the noon
Tuesday deadline.

Minnesota’s government shutdown added 11,500 claims from laid-off
state employees to the week’s total prior to seasonal adjustment, the
report showed. The previous week there were 2,500 Minnesota state-worker
claims.

Some states noted that auto plant shutdowns contributed to the
previous week’s claims total, but those were “probably a little less
than usual,” the analyst said.

Only the District of Columbia, plagued with computer problems, was
estimated in the latest week.

Seasonal factors had expected a 16.6% increase or about 70,000, and
instead got a 10.6% increase of about 45,000. Seasonal adjustment turned
that gain into a decline.

Unadjusted claims rose 45,031 to 470,671, compared to the 515,991
unadjusted claims a year earlier.

The initial claims seasonally adjusted 4-week moving average was
down 3,750 to 423,250 in the latest week.

The state data released for the July 2 week indicated unadjusted
claims increased more than 1,000 in eight states and declined in two
states.

In the July 2 week, continuing claims rose 15,000 to 3,727,000
while unadjusted continuing claims decreased 41,683 to 3,514,148.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at
3.0% and the unadjusted rate stayed at 2.8% in the July 2 week. A year
earlier the adjusted rate was 3.7%.

The unemployment rate among the insured labor force is well below
that reported monthly by the Labor Department because claims are
approved for the most part only for job losers, not the job leavers and
labor force reentrants included in the monthly report.

The Labor Department said that the level of unadjusted Emergency
Unemployment Compensation benefits claims declined by 22,408 in the June
25 week, bringing that category to 3,234,115. Extended benefits claims
rose 6,730 to 596,711, not seasonally adjusted in the same week.

The Labor Department reported that a total of 7,484,894 persons
claimed unemployment benefits in the June 25 week, an increase of 3.5%
rate in the comparable week a year earlier. 25,333 but well below the
year-earlier total of 8,751,520. Again, these data are not seasonally
adjusted, and include regular state claims, federal employee claims, new
veterans claims, the EUC and extended benefits programs, state
additional benefits, and STC/Workshare claims.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

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