US Weekly Initial Jobless Claims Continue to Decline in the Week Ending October 19th

On Thursday, the US Department of Labor reported that the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 227,000 during the week ending Saturday, October 19th. This is a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 242,000 (originally 242,000). The 4-week moving average was 238,500—an increase of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 236,500 (originally 236,250).

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment, known as continuing claims, during the week ending October 12th was 1,897,000. This is an increase of 28,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 1,869,000 (originally 1,867,000) and the highest level for insured unemployment since November 13th, 2021, when it was 1,974,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,860,750—an increase of 17,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 1,843,250 (originally 1,842,750).

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.3% for the week ending October 12th, an increase of 0.1% from the previous week’s unrevised rate.