Initial Jobless Claims – Week Ending 3 January 2009

At 8:30 EST this morning, the Department of Labor released the weekly initial jobless claims numbers, also called the unemployment initial claims. For the week ending 3 January 2009 on a seasonally-adjusted basis, there were 467,000 new claims for unemployment benefits. This was 24,000 lower than the revised number from last week, and was lower than most predictions. This represents 0.34% of the insured workforce (those eligible for unemployment compensation). That figure is down from the 0.44% reached a month ago, which was the highest since the administration of President George H. W. Bush.

Seasonally-adjusted continuing claims for the week ending 27 December 2008 came in at 4,611,000, which was 101,000 greater than a week earlier. This represents 3.4% of the insured workforce, and is the highest level since 1983 during the severe recession during the administration of President Reagan.