The number of initial claims for unemployment insurance in the United States rose by 18,000 during the week ended Saturday (April 26), the Department of Labor said in a Thursday (May 1) press release. The number reached 241,000, up from the previous week’s revised level of 223,000.
The four-week moving average increased by 5,500 and was gauged at 226,000, up from the previous week’s revised level of 220,500, according to the release.
The week’s increase in initial claims was “well more” than the number expected by economists and was the highest since February, but the past 12 months have seen bigger increases that quickly turned around, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The Conference Board said Tuesday (April 27) that consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions “held up” in April but their expectations of business conditions, employment prospects and future income “deteriorated sharply.”
The share of consumers expecting fewer jobs in the next six months was nearly as high as it was during the Great Recession, according to The Conference Board.
The Department of Labor also reported Thursday that insured unemployment increased by 83,000 during the week ended April 19. It rose to 1,916,000, up from the previous week’s revised level of 1,833,000.
“This is the highest level for insured unemployment since Nov. 13, 2021, when it was 1,970,000,” the press release said.
The insured unemployment rate was gauged at 1.3%, which was 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous week, per the release.
The three states that had the biggest increases in initial claims during the week ended April 19 were New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island, the release said.
New Jersey, which had 2,875 more claims, cited layoffs in the educational services industry, according to the release. Connecticut, which had 2,231 more, did not submit comments to the Department of Labor. Rhode Island, which saw an increase of 1,868 initial claims, attributed the rise to layoffs in four industries: transportation and warehousing; accommodation and food services; administrative and support and waste management and remediation services; and healthcare and social assistance.
The state with the greatest decrease during that week was Kentucky, which reported 4,613 fewer initial claims. Kentucky said it saw fewer layoffs in the manufacturing industry, per the release.
