Insured Unemployment Reaches Highest Level in 3 Years

The number of initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped, but insured unemployment reached its highest level in about three years, the Department of Labor said in a Thursday (Oct. 24) press release.

There were 227,000 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ended Saturday (Oct. 19) — a total that was 15,000 lower than the previous week’s revised number of 242,000, according to the release.

The number for insured unemployment reached 1,897,000 during the week ended Oct. 12 — a number that was 28,000 higher than the previous week’s revised level of 1,869,000 and the highest level since Nov. 13, 2021, when it was 1,974,000, per the release.

The decrease in initial claims marked the second consecutive week of declines and brought the level back to that seen before Hurricanes Helene and Milton sent the number upward, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

The recovery was quicker than expected, the report added. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected to see 242,000 initial claims during the week.

The rise in insured unemployment likely reflects the impact of the storms and furloughs at suppliers that have been affected by the strike at Boeing, according to the report.

Reuters also reported Thursday that the drop in initial claims was unexpected and was probably due to a lessening of the impact of Hurricane Helene.

Georgia, New York and Pennsylvania had the greatest increases in initial claims during the week ended Oct. 12, according to the Department of Labor’s Thursday press release.

Georgia, which reported the biggest increase in initial claims, with 3,293, attributed the rise to layoffs in manufacturing; administrative and support; waste management and remediation; healthcare and social assistance; and accommodation and food services, per the release.

Michigan, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Indiana and Kentucky reported decreases of more than 1,000 during the week, the release said. Michigan, which reported the greatest decrease, with 7,917, cited fewer layoffs in the manufacturing industry.

The Labor Department also said in the release that during the week ended Oct. 19, the four-week moving average of initial claims was 238,500, up 2,000 from the previous week’s revised average.

It added that during the week ended Oct. 12, the insured unemployment rate was 1.3%, up 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate.