Jobless Claims Tick Higher to 1.4M for Week Ending July 25, Insured Unemployment Rate Rises

Washington, D.C. (PPD) — The U.S. Labor Department (DOL) reported initial jobless claims ticked higher to 1,436,000 for the week ending July 25, an increase of 12,000. The previous week was upwardly revised (6,000) to 1,422,000.

Forecasts ranged from a low of 1,300,000 to a high of 1,550,000. The consensus forecast was 1,388,000.

The 4-week moving average came in at 1,368,500, an increase of 6,500. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,750 from 1,360,250 to 1,362,000.

Lagging Jobless Claims Data

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 11.6% for the week ending July 18, up 0.5% from the previous week’s unrevised rate.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 18 was 17,018,000, an increase of 867,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 46,000 from 16,197,000 to 16,151,000.

The 4-week moving average was 17,058,250, a decrease of 435,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 11,500 from 17,505,250 to 17,493,750.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending July 11 were in Puerto Rico (24.6), Nevada (22.0), Hawaii (21.0), Louisiana (16.6), New York (16.3), Georgia (16.0), California (15.5), Connecticut (15.1), Massachusetts (14.5), and the Virgin Islands (14.5).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending July 18 were in Louisiana (+5,728), Virginia (+5,654), California (+4,680), Tennessee (+3,713), and Alabama (+3,113), while the largest decreases were in Florida (-23,855), Texas (-17,608), Georgia (-16,139), New Jersey (-12,893), and Washington (-12,261).