Jobless Claims Rise to Forecast for Week Ending February 23

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims rose as expected by 8,000 to a still low seasonally adjusted 225,000, matching the forecast. The 4-week moving average came in at 229,000, a decline of 7,000.

In Lagging data, the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate rose by 0.1% to 1.3% for the week ending February 16. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 16 was 1,805,000, an increase of 79,000.

The 4-week moving average was 1,761,750, an increase of 6,750 from the previous week’s revised average.

No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending February 9.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending February 9 were in Alaska (3.2), New Jersey (2.7), Montana (2.6), Rhode Island (2.6), Connecticut (2.4), Pennsylvania (2.4), Illinois (2.3), Massachusetts (2.3), Minnesota (2.2), and West Virginia (2.2).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending February 16 were in Washington (+1,275), Oregon (+183), Georgia (+136), Rhode Island (+131), and Nevada (+122), while the largest decreases were in Wisconsin (-4,606), Pennsylvania (-4,156), Michigan (-3,973), New York (-3,795), and Minnesota (-2,011).