Weekly Unemployment Claims Take a Little Dip

Good morning, Blazers. Here’s your weekly unemployment claims report.

Applications for jobless benefits fell by 5,000 for the week ending February 2, bringing the total to 366,000, down from last week’s revised figure of 371,000, the Labor Department announced on Thursday.

The four-week moving average, a “less volatile” figure, decreased by 2,250, bringing the total to 350,500, down from last week’s revised average of 352,750.

“The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent for the week ending January 26, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate,” the report reads.

“The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 26 was 3,224,000, an increase of 8,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,216,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,211,000, an increase of 13,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,197,250,” it adds.

The states with the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 19 were North Carolina (+2,030), Oregon (+491), Virginia (+461), and Vermont (+62).

Meanwhile, California (-20,414), Texas (-5,082), Illinois (-4,865), Florida (-3,570), and Michigan (-2,795) posted the biggest decreases in initial claims.

Employers added roughly 157,000 jobs in January.

“And annual revisions included in the Labor Department's January employment report showed the economy created 600,000 more jobs in 2011 and 2012 than previously thought,” The Associated Press notes.

But let’s keep everything in perspective: The unemployment rate also ticked up to 7.9 percent in January from 7.8 percent in December.

Hopefully, according to some economists, the unemployment rate will come back down if hiring continues at this modest clip.

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Front page photo courtesy Getty Images.