Weekly U.S. Unemployment Claims Significantly Increase by 9,000 to 224,000
Insured claims drop as seasonal adjustments indicate changes in unemployment dynamics
Initial unemployment claims in the U.S. have surged to 224,000 for the week ending November 30, a U.S. Department of Labor update says. This is an uptick of 9,000 from the previous week's numbers. The numbers were noted as the increase came after the weekly claims logging less than expected for eight weeks straight.
Overview of Unemployment Claims
While initial claims rose, the seasonally adjusted, insured unemployment rate slightly dropped from 1.3% to 1.2% for the week ending November 23. This reflects a reduction in the number of insured unemployed, now at 1,871,000, down by 25,000 from the previous week.
Detailed State-by-State Analysis
Providing a granular look at state-specific data, the report said certain states like California and Illinois saw significant increases in initial claims due to layoffs in industries such as in construction and manufacturing sectors. Conversely, some states reported declines, pointing to a mixed economic landscape across different regions.
Trends and Predictions
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 210,166 in the week ending November 30, a decrease of 34,967 (or -14.3 percent) from the previous week, Department of Labor said. The 43,221 (or -17.6 percent) decrease from the previous week is less than the expected drop attributable to seasonal factors. There were 294,615 initial claims in the comparable week in 2023.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.1 percent during the week ending November 23, unchanged from the prior week, according to the press release. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs was 1,661,822, a drop of 60,142 (or -3.5 percent) from the preceding week. This far exceeds the expected seasonal factors-induced decrease of 37,929 (or -2.2 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier, the rate of decline was 1.2 percent and the volume was 1,845,084.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor
