Weekly Employment Insurance Claims At Lowest Point Since March 2020

Weekly seasonally adjusted employment insurance claims were down again as of Sept. 4, hitting a low of 310,000, down 35,000 week-over-week.

This is the lowest that claims have been since March 2020, when the figure 256,000 claims, according to the latest Department of Labor statistics.

The insured unemployment rate was 2% for the week ending Aug. 28, unchanged from the previous week. 

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Aug. 28 were in Missouri, Ohio, New York and Tennessee, while the largest decreases occurred in California, Illinois, Virginia and New Jersey. 

How Economists Are Reacting: RSM Economist Joe Brusuelas tweeted there were no major distortions in the data due to Hurricane Ida, which tore through Louisiana and other neighboring states in the south.

“The impact of Hurricane Ida did not have a material impact on the topline estimate in the pace of firings,” he tweeted.

“While, the state of Louisiana reported an increase to 9,319 in claims for the week, up from 2,060 both Alabama and Louisiana reported a decline in first time claims.”

While concerned about inflation, Economist Mohamed El-Erian was optimistic about the continued job hiring. 

“Again, a record level of US job openings: Per the monthly #JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) report, job openings in July rose 749,000 to a record high of 10.9 million, above the median analyst projection of just over 10 million,” he tweeted. “In addition, the hiring rate fell; and the quit rate was unchanged.” 

Photo: Emmanuel Ikwuegbu via Unsplash.