In the week ending September 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 382,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 385,000. The 4-week moving average was 377,750, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average of 375,750.
Meh.
The big table is where the action is at:
Note the large drop in both regular state and extended programs. But the story here is the deterioration in the job market generally; this month if you look back on a year-over-year basis the total claimants were 25% fewer than a year ago.
This is almost the same drop from last year at this time against the prior year.
But claimants in regular programs a year ago were 82% of the year-ago level. Now they're 89% of last year's level.
The difference? People rolling off extended programs, which is why the employment:population ratio continues to look like crap and, in addition, is adding to the argument that government extension of unemployment has done nothing positive for either employment or the economy as a whole on balance.
