US Weekly Jobless Claims Decline in the Week Ending August 12th

The US Department of Labor reported on Thursday (8-17-23) that the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 239,000 during the week ending Saturday, August 12th. This is a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 250,000 (originally reported as 248,000). The 4-week moving average was 234,250—an increase of 2,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 231,500 (originally reported as 231,000).

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment, known as continuing claims, during the week ending August 5th was 1,716,000. This is an increase of 32,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 1,684,000. The 4-week moving average was 1692,750—a decrease of 8,250 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 1,701,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% for the week ending August 5th, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate.