Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report (06/02/2011)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending May 28, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 422,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 428,000. The 4-week moving average was 425,500, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week's revised average of 439,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent for the week ending May 21, unchanged from the prior week's revised rate of 3.0 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 21 was 3,711,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,712,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,737,750, a decrease of 10,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,747,750.

Read more: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20110810.htm

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Yesterday, ADP reported that a lot fewer private-sector jobs had been created in May than expected.

US Stocks Drop Following Weak ADP Jobs Data

JUNE 1, 2011, 8:30 A.M. ET
By Steven Russolillo
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Private-sector jobs in the US rose by just 38000 last month, according to a national employment report published by payroll giant Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) and consultancy Macroeconomic Advisers. The figure came well below the 190000 gain economists had anticipated.

[Yo_Mama]

1. Last week's number was revised up from 424,000 to 428,000

I usually find the direction of the revisions is as indicative as the level during these transition periods. We are back to the consistently upward revisions.

These levels are probably indicative of a higher number of job losses than they normally would be, because a lot of jobs added coming out of a recession are temporary, and a lot of people have only recently gone back to work in permanent jobs. So a smaller number of job losers qualify for benefits than normally, and those who don't qualify generally don't file.

I am pretty sure this holds true, because last fall when we were losing jobs it claims were suppressed still. Tomorrow we'll get the employment report, but gas usage seems to indicate that the employment picture is worsening.