U.S. weekly jobless claims stay elevated; labor market improvement stalling

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Reuters

BUSINESS NEWSJULY 9, 2020 / 8:37 AM / UPDATED 4 MINUTES AGO

U.S. weekly jobless claims stay elevated; labor market improvement stalling

Lucia Mutikani
3 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Weakening demand and a resurgence in new COVID-19 cases are keeping new U.S. applications for unemployment benefits extraordinarily high, suggesting the labor market remains fragile despite record job growth in June.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits totaled a seasonally adjusted 1.314 million for the week ended July 4, down from 1.413 million in the prior week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 1.375 million applications in the latest week.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy/u-s-weekly-jobless-claims-stay-elevated-labor-market-improvement-stalling-idUSKBN24A1V6

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https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf

News Release
Connect with DOL at https://blog.dol.gov

TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL
8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, July 9, 2020

COVID-19 Impact
The COVID-19 virus continues to impact the number of initial claims and insured unemployment. This report includes
information on claimants filing Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment
Compensation claims.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending July 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 1,314,000, a decrease of 99,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 14,000 from 1,427,000 to 1,413,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,437,250, a decrease of 63,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 3,500 from 1,503,750 to 1,500,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 12.4 percent for the week ending June 27, a decrease of 0.5 percentage point from the previous week's revised rate. The previous week's rate was revised down by 0.3 from 13.2 to 12.9 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending June 27 was 18,062,000, a decrease of 698,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 530,000 from 19,290,000 to 18,760,000. The 4-week moving average was 19,085,500, a decrease of 636,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 132,500 from 19,854,000 to 19,721,500.

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