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Initial unemployment claims in the U.S. decreased by 15,000 to 227,000 in the week ended October 19, 2024, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Department of Labor. Despite this decline in initial claims, the insured unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point to 1.3 percent, marking the highest level since November 2021.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment figure for the week ending October 12, 2024, reached 1.897 million, an increase of 28,000 from the previous week. This represents the highest level of insured unemployment since late 2021. The four-week moving average for insured unemployment also rose, increasing by 17,500 to 1.860 million.
Unadjusted data showed a 10% drop in initial claims, totaling 202,635, down 22,634 from the previous week. Meanwhile, the advance insured unemployment rate, unadjusted, remained steady at 1.1%, with 1.635 million insured unemployed under state programs.
Michigan saw the largest decrease in initial claims with 7,917 fewer claims, followed by Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina. Conversely, Georgia experienced the largest increase in claims, driven by layoffs in multiple sectors, including manufacturing, healthcare, and food services.
The total number of continued weeks claimed for unemployment benefits across all programs for the week ending October 5 decreased by 16,058 to 1.621 million, slightly higher than the comparable week in 2023, which had 1.566 million claims.