US Weekly Jobless Claims Decrease for the Week Ending August 26th

The US Department of Labor reported on Thursday (8-31-23) that the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 228,000 during the week ending Saturday, August 26th. This is a decrease of 4,000, from the previous week’s revised level of 232,000 (originally reported as 230,000). The 4-week moving average was 237,500—an increase of 250 from the previous week’s revised average of 237,250 (originally reported as 236,750).

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment, known as continuing claims, during the week ending August 19th was 1,725,000. This is an increase of 28,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 1,697,000 (originally reported as 1,702,000). The 4-week moving average was 1,704,250—an increase of 8,250 from the previous week’s revised level of 1,696,000 (originally reported as 1,697,250).

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% for the week ending August 19th, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate.