Jobless Claims Fall Less than Expected

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims came in at 232,000 for the week ending April 14, a decline of 1,000 from the previous week. The 4-week moving average rose slightly to 231,250, an increase of 1,250 from the previous week.

Both were unrevised for the previous week at 233,000 and 230,000, respectively.

Claims taking procedures in Puerto Rico and in the Virgin Islands have still not returned to normal since the hurricane season. Extended benefits were payable in Alaska and the Virgin Islands during the week ending March 31.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate remained at a very low 1.3% for the week ending April 7, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 7 was 1,863,000, a decline of 15,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 7,000 from 1,871,000 to 1,878,000.

The 4-week moving average was 1,858,750, an increase of 6,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average, which was the lowest level since January 5, 1974 was revised up by 1,750 from 1,850,250 to 1,852,000.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 31 were in the Virgin Islands (6.0), Alaska (3.3), Connecticut (2.6), New Jersey (2.6), Puerto Rico (2.6), California (2.3), Massachusetts (2.3), Pennsylvania (2.3), Rhode Island (2.3), Illinois (2.1), Minnesota (2.1), and Montana (2.1).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 7 were in New Jersey (+5,567), Texas (+3,505), New York (+3,287), Arizona (+2,346), and California (+1,942), while the largest decreases were in Pennsylvania (-1,134), Michigan (-570), Illinois (-481), Idaho (-292), and Maryland (-227)