Jobless Claims Released On 8/29/2013 8:30:00 AM For wk8/24, 2013 Prior Prior Revised Consensus Consensus Range Actual New Claims - Level 336 K 337 K 330 K 318 K to 335 K 331 K 4-week Moving Average - Level 330.50 K 330.50 K 331.25 K New Claims - Change 13 K 15 K -6 K Highlights Incremental declines in jobless claims may not point to new hiring but they do point to positive momentum in employment activity. Initial claims in the August 24 week fell 6,000 to 331,000 vs a revised 337,000 in the prior week. The 4-week average did rise slightly to 331,250 vs 330,500 in the prior week, but a comparison with the month-ago trend, which is useful for an indication on the monthly employment report, shows a roughly 10,000 decline.
Continuing jobless claims tell the same story, one of incremental improvement. Continuing claims in the latest data, which are for the August 17 week, show a 14,000 weekly decline to 2.989 million. The 4-week average is up slightly to 2.996 million but is down roughly 30,000 in the month-ago comparison. These levels are near recovery lows while the unemployment rate for insured workers is holding at a recovery low of 2.3 percent.
There are no special factors at play in this report, one that points to another steady employment report next week.
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