Jobless Claims Fall to 860k for September 12, Insured Unemployment Falls to 8.6%

Washington, D.C. (PPD) — The U.S. Labor Department (DOL) reported initial jobless claims fell to a seasonally-adjusted 860,000 for the week ending September 12. The previous week was upwardly revised slightly by 9,000 from 893,000.

Forecasts ranged from a low of 800,000 to a high of 895,000. The consensus forecast was 850,000.

The 4-week moving average was 912,000, down 61,000 from the previous week. The previous week’s average was revised up by 2,250 from 970,750 to 973,000.

Lagging Jobless Claims Data

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate fell to single digits for the week ending August 15 at 9.9%. It came in at 8.6% for the week ending September 5, a decline of 0.7 from the previous week, which was revised higher 0.1 to 9.3.

The insured unemployment rate hit the first high of the current crisis at 8.2% for the week ending April 4. The all-time high prior to that was 7.0%, recorded in May of 1975. On April 11, it rose to 11.0% and 12.4% on April 25.

Under the Trump Administration, this rate had fallen to an all-time low 1.1% and remained at 1.2% just weeks ago, as recently as March 14. But that was before coronavirus (COVID-19) mitigation efforts.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending September 5 was 12,628,000, a decrease of 916,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 159,000 from 13,385,000 to 13,544,000. The 4-week moving average was 13,489,000, a decrease of 532,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 39,750 from 13,982,000 to 14,021,750.

During the week ending August 29, Extended Benefits were available in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. That’s down from all 50 a week earlier.

Those states are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending August 29 were in Hawaii (20.3), California (17.3), Nevada (15.6), New York (15.0), Puerto Rico (14.1), Louisiana (13.6), Connecticut (11.9), Georgia (11.9), District of Columbia (11.3), and Massachusetts (11.0).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending September 5 were in California (+23,841), Texas (+8,618), Louisiana (+8,375), New Jersey (+2,402), and Washington (+2,173), while the largest decreases were in Kentucky (-7,219), Florida (-5,334), Pennsylvania (-2,257), Kansas (-1,915), and Michigan (-994).