US Weekly Initial Jobless Claims Increase in the Week Ending May 9

On Thursday, the US Department of Labor reported that the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 211,000 for the week ending Saturday, May 9, an increase of 12,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 200,000 (originally 199,000). The four-week moving average was 203,750—an increase of 750 from the prior week’s revised average of 203,000 (originally 203,250).

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 2 was 1,782,000, an increase of 24,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 1,758,000 (originally 1,766,000). The four-week moving average was 1,781,000—a decrease of 6,750 from the prior week’s revised average of 1,787,750 (originally 1,789,750).

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% for the week ending May 2, up 0.1 percentage points from the previous week’s revised rate of 1.1% (originally 1.2%).