The Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report has been released. Initial claims dropped to 550K, which was at the low end of the Bloomberg consensus range (550K to 570K). Last week’s number was revised up 6,000 to 576K. From the report:

In the week ending Sept. 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 550,000, a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 576,000. The 4-week moving average was 570,000, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 572,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.6 percent for the week ending Aug. 29, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 4.7 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Aug. 29 was 6,088,000, a decrease of 159,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 6,247,000. The 4-week moving average was 6,182,500, a decrease of 37,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 6,220,250.

As usual, those that are interested in data trends should look at the above numbers, but those interested in the actual number of new jobless should take a look at the unadjusted numbers. Unfortunately, they moved a bit in the wrong direction this week:

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 460,516 in the week ending Sept. 5, an increase of 3,834 from the previous week. There were 336,733 initial claims in the comparable week in 2008.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.1 percent during the week ending Aug. 29, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 5,424,564, a decrease of 197,837 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.3 percent and the volume was 3,059,126.

I’m still speculating that the decrease in continuing claims is due to expiring benefits. This is a problem that everyone is aware of. States are effectively powerless to do anything, as their budgets are effectively depleted without additional federal funds.

As for the good / bad lists, the best news is that they show decreased volatility:

The good list (-1000 or more): MI, OH, OR, WI, PA, KS

The bad list (+1000 or more): GA, NJ, FL, TX, NY

NY (the worst) was +4,546 vs MI (the best) at -1,915. That’s a two-fer for Michigan, and with Ohio switching lists, it’s clear that the automobile plants are producing. Nothing else really jumps out.

I’m going to rate this report negatively. The decrease in new claims is due entirely to a seasonal adjustment. The decrease in continuing claims is probably due to expiring benefits. At least volatility was down for a week (though it’s important to remember that the data for that lags by a week). Overall loss levels are still high. Show me another round of extended benefits or show me a significant source of new jobs.

-By Guest Blogger crazynutjob.

Read all of crazynutjob’s unemployment report recaps [here].