Layoffs in the job market appear to be easing somewhat, though continued claims show that Americans are still having trouble finding work.
There were 550,000 new claims – seasonally-adjusted – for unemployment benefits in the week ending August 1st, according to a government report released today.
This is a decrease of 38,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 588,000. The four-week moving average – which smooths out fluctuations – was 555,250, down 4,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 560,000.
The advance seasonally-adjusted insured unemployment rate remains unchanged from the previous week’s revised rate of 4.7%. There were 6,310,000 insured unemployed persons, seasonally adjusted, in the U.S. for the week ending July 25th. This figure represents an increase of 69,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 6,241,000. The four-week moving average was 6,278,750, a decrease of 148,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 6,427,250.
In the week ending July 18, Puerto Rico had the highest insured unemployment rate at 8%. States with insured unemployment rates significantly higher than the national rate were Michigan at 6.7%, Oregon at 6.5%, Pennsylvania at 6.5%, and Nevada at 6.1%. Also, Wisconsin, Connecticut, New Jersey, California, Rhode Island, and South Carolina all had insured unemployment rates over 5%.
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending July 25 were in Ohio with an increase of 891, followed by 644 in Oklahoma, 222 in Mississippi, 154 in Louisiana, and 129 in Alaska. The largest drop in new claims was in North Carolina with 9,809, Michigan with 9,085, Florida with 8,714, Georgia with 6,948, and Alabama with 3,822 fewer claims than the previous week. State data lags behind initial claims data by one week.
Press secretary Robert Gibbs said that even as the initial claims numbers decline, there is concern for the growing number and record-number of long-term unemployed who will exhaust their unemployment benefits before they can find work. “We’re very concerned about that. Obviously that’s been a — was a big part of the Recovery Act and something that we want to see, and I think there’s bipartisan support to see, continued,” Gibbs said.
“At the same time, we’re also looking at working to continue benefits that were extended as part of the recovery plan itself,” Gibbs continued. “Two different — both kind of a short-term and more of a medium- to long-term issue that the administration is concerned about and wants to work with Congress to ensure that we are continuing to help those that are victims of a struggling economy who are looking and actively participating in a job search to help support their families. And we’re definitely committed to that.”
The national unemployment rate in June was 9.5% – and when compared to the national insured unemployment rate of 4.7% – shows that about half of America’s unemployed are not receiving unemployment benefits for various reasons.
The national unemployment rate is expected to top 10% before a recovery. The government will release July’s unemployment data in a report on Friday.
Sources:
The White House
U.S. Department of Labor – Bureau of Labor Statistics
Fox News