US Weekly Initial Jobless Claims Increase in the Week Ending April 26

On Thursday, the US Department of Labor reported that the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 241,000 during the week ending Saturday, April 26. This is an increase of 18,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 223,000 (originally 222,000). The 4-week moving average was 226,000—an increase of 5,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 220,500 (originally 220,250).

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 19 was 1,916,000. This is an increase of 83,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 1,833,000 (originally 1,841,000). This is the highest level for insured unemployment since November 13, 2021, when it was 1,970,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,867,750—an increase of 5,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 1,862,000 (originally 1,864,000).

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.3% for the week ending April 19, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate.