October 2018 Initial Unemployment Claims Rolling Average Marginally Worsens

The market expectations for weekly initial unemployment claims (from Econoday) were 210 K to 217 K (consensus 215,000), and the Department of Labor reported 210,000 new claims. The more important (because of the volatility in the weekly reported claims and seasonality errors in adjusting the data) 4 week moving average moved from 209,750 (reported last week as 209,500) to 211,750. The rolling averages generally have been equal to or under 300,000 since August 2014.

Analyst Opinion of Initial Unemployment Claims

This marks 184 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000, the longest streak since 1970. The general trend of the 4 week rolling average is a slowing rate of improvement year-over-year which historically suggests a slowing economy.

It should be pointed out that Econintersect watches the year-over-year change on the 4 week moving average. There is always some seasonality which migrates into the seasonally adjusted data, and year-over-year comparisons helps remove some seasonality. The four week rolling average of initial claims are 14.8 % lower (worse than the 18.7 % lower for last week) than they were in this same week a year ago.

Claim levels are at 40 year lows (with the normal range around 350,000 weekly initial unemployment claims of levels seen historically during times of economic expansion – see chart below).

From the Department of Labor:

In the week ending October 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 210,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 1,000 from 214,000 to 215,000. The 4-week moving average was 211,750, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 250 from 209,500 to 209,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending October 6, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending October 6 was 1,640,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since August 4, 1973 when it was 1,633,000. The previous week’s level was revised down by 7,000 from 1,660,000 to 1,653,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,653,000, a decrease of 1,250 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since August 18, 1973 when it was 1,646,750. The previous week’s average was revised down by 1,750 from 1,656,000 to 1,654,250.