Continuing Claims

For the week ending 2/17/24, continuing unemployment insurance claims were 1.88 million. While very low, this is their highest level since the week ending 12/11/21. Moreover, the percentage of people filing for unemployment insurance has recently fallen from 36% to 30% as UI benefits haven’t kept up with the higher post-Covid cost of living. This decline reduces somewhat the value of this data series as a leading economic indicator.