Unemployment Claims Up 7K, Better Than Expected

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Initial jobless claims measures the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time during the past week. In the week ending November 25, initial jobless claims were at a seasonally adjusted level of 218,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's revised figure. The latest reading is lower than the forecast of 220,000.

Here is the opening statement from the Department of Labor:

In the week ending November 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 218,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 209,000 to 211,000. The 4-week moving average was 220,000, a decrease of 500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 220,000 to 220,500.

The chart below is a snapshot of weekly initial unemployment insurance claims for this year.

Here is a closer look at the series since 2007, with a callout to the past 12 months. The four-week moving average, which gives a clearer sense of the overall trend, is currently at 220,000. This is a decrease of 500 from the previous week's figure.

As we can see, there's a good bit of volatility in this indicator, which is why the four-week moving average is a more useful number than the weekly data. Here is the complete data series dating back to 1967.

Outside of the COVID spike, initial unemployment claims have never been greater than 700,000 for a given week. With that said, we've adjusted the y-axis on the chart below so that we can get a zoomed in view of the series where the COVID spike isn't as prominent.

Notice the relationship between recessions and the rise in weekly unemployment claims. The 4-week moving average begins to rise at or before the start of a recession and reaches a relative peak at the end of a recession.

The headline unemployment insurance data is seasonally adjusted, as are the charts above. What does the non-seasonally adjusted data look like? See the chart below, which clearly shows the extreme volatility of the non-adjusted data (the green dots). The four-week MA gives an indication of the recurring pattern of seasonal change (note, for example, those regular January spikes).

Because of the extreme volatility of the non-adjusted weekly data, we can add a 52-week moving average to give a better sense of the secular trends. The chart below also has a linear regression through the data (red line), which we are currently below.

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For an analysis of unemployment claims as a percent of the labor force, see this regularly updated piece The Civilian Labor Force, Unemployment Claims and the Business Cycle. Here is a snapshot from that analysis.