Initial jobless claims beat expectations and fell to a pandemic low for the week ending August 14th, according to the Department of Labor… (DOL)
- Initial claims were 348,000, a decrease of 29,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020. Forecasts had the claims only dropping to 363,000.
- The 4-week moving average was 377,750, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week’s revised average.
Continuing claims failed to meet expectations for the week ending August 7th…
- Continuing claims were 2,820,000, a decrease of 79,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 14, 2020 even though it didn’t meet forecasts of 2.8M.
- The 4-week moving average was 2,998,750, a decrease of 110,500 from the previous week’s revised average.
Looking at the individual state-level data for the week ending August 7th…
- The states with the largest increases were in Virginia (+4,197), California (+3,267), Maryland (+1,738), Oregon (+1,602), and Illinois (+1,430),
- The states with the largest decreases were Michigan (-4,093), New York (-2,921), Georgia (-2,623), Indiana (-2,577), and Missouri (-2,401).