–Initial Claims Level Down 16,000 From December Employment Survey Week

By Kevin Kastner and Ian McKendry

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment
benefits fell 37,000 to 404,000 in the January 15 week after spiking in
the previous week, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

A Labor Department analyst said that seasonal factors had expected
a 21% drop, or about 162,000, in unadjusted claims in the January 15
week after the usual annual peak in the previous week. Instead,
unadjusted claims actually fell 27.8%, or 212,504 claims, to 550,594,
resulting in the large drop in the seasonally adjusted claims level.
Unadjusted claims were at a level of 652,327 in the comparable week a
year ago.

The analyst said this week’s claims bring the series back to where
it was before the spike in the second week of January. The analyst added
that claims were estimated in Iowa, Hawaii, and D.C., but that there
were no other special factors.

Economists surveyed by Market News International had expected
initial claims to drop to 417,000 in the current week, from the 445,000
level originally reported in the previous week. The January 8 week’s
level was revised down to 441,000.

The seasonally adjusted 4-week moving average fell by 4,000 to
411,750 in the January 15 week, just about reversing last week’s gain.

In the January 8 week, continuing claims fell by 26,000 to
3,861,000, the lowest level since the 3,845,000 level in the October 25,
2008 week. Unadjusted continuing claims fell by 167,288 to 4,609,826 in
the January 8 week, still well below the 5,791,080 level a year earlier.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate held steady
at 3.1% in the January 8 week. The current rate is down sharply from
3.8% in the comparable week a year earlier.

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 fell by 53,485 in the January
1 holiday week, bringing that category to 3,719,607. Extended benefits
claims rose by 82,610 to 957,289 not seasonally adjusted in the same
week.

The Labor Department reported that a total of 9,607,423 persons
claimed unemployment benefits in the January 1 holiday week, up 401,237
from the 9,206,186 claims reported in the previous week, but well below
the 11,842,260 persons in the comparable week a year ago. 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 **

[TOPICS: MAUDS$,MT$$$$,M$U$$$,MAUDR$]