Initial Claims Number Down to 312,000 from 313,000; Unemployment Rate Unchanged at 2.0%

The U.S. Department of Labor has posted today the unemployment insurance weekly claims data. According to a statement, for the last week, ending June 7, the initial claims amounted to 312,000, being revised from 313,000. In this way, the 4-week moving average went up 315,250, up by 4,750 from the last week’s revised average. For the previous week, the average also was reviewed up to 310,250 from 310,500.

“There were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims,” the Department of Labor said.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 2.0% for the last week of May. The number for insured unemployment amounted to around 2.61 million for the last week of May, up by 11,000 over the week. The 4-week moving average went down to some 2.62 million, from 2.64 million. The level posted for the week ended May 31, was the lowest since November 24, 2007, when it amounted to approximately 2.62 million.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Labor said that the number of people claiming benefits for the week ending May 24, also declined by 66,040 from the previous week, to around 2.45 million. In comparison to the same week of the last year, the number of people claiming benefits was much higher and amounted to 4.51 million.

At the same time, for the week ending May 31, the highest increases in initial claims were in Tennessee and Puerto Rico, up by 949 and 787 respectively. In New Mexico and Washington, the number of claims advanced by 626 and 547 respectively. On the other hand, the largest decreases have been reported by California and New Jersey, down by 1,944 and 1,654 respectively, followed by Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, which posted decreases of 1,416 and 1,152 respectively.