The market expectations for weekly initial unemployment claims (from Nasdaq/Econoday) were 210 K to 215 K (consensus 214,000), and the Department of Labor reported 213,000 new claims. The more important (because of the volatility in the weekly reported claims and seasonality errors in adjusting the data) 4 week moving average moved from 213,750 (reported last week as 213,750) to 212,250. The rolling averages generally have been equal to or under 300,000 since August 2014.

Analyst Opinion of Initial Unemployment Claims

This marks 177 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000, the longest streak since 1970. The general trend of the 4-week rolling average is a slowing rate of improvement year-over-year which historically suggests a slowing economy.

It should be pointed out that Econintersect watches the year-over-year change on the 4 week moving average. There is always some seasonality which migrates into the seasonally adjusted data, and year-over-year comparisons helps remove some seasonality. The four week rolling average of initial claims are 10.4 % lower (better than the 10.4 % lower for last week) than they were in this same week a year ago.

Claim levels are at 40-year lows (with the normal range around 350,000 weekly initial unemployment claims of levels seen historically during times of economic expansion – see chart below).

From the Department of Labor:

In the week ending August 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 213,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 210,000. The 4-week moving average was 212,250, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 213,750. This is the lowest level for this average since December 13, 1969 when it was 210,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending August 18, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 18 was 1,708,000, a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 1,000 from 1,727,000 to 1,728,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,731,250, a decrease of 4,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 250 from 1,735,500 to 1,735,750.