Initial Jobless Claims have been back on the rise for the last two weeks with this week’s reading coming in at 248k versus estimates for 230k. That is the most elevated reading since the first week of July and marks the largest week-over-week rise since the first week of June.

Before seasonal adjustment, claims totaled 225.6K, up roughly 20K from the previous week. At those levels, claims are above those of the comparable week of last year and multiple pre-pandemic years. The past couple of weeks have seen particularly pronounced seasonal tailwinds which have historically ebbed this week and will again likely happen next week. However, those tailwinds are set to continue later this month into September when claims have typically reached an annual low point.

Lagged one week to initial claims, continuing claims came in lower than expected, dropping to 1.684 million from 1.7 million. That is slightly above the low from two weeks ago but does not yet disrupt the trend downward in continuing claims.

As for a state level breakdown of claims, in the heatmap below we show where continuing claims are most and least elevated as a share of the each state’s respective labor force. As shown, the West Coast and Northeast are the two weakest regions of the country with the highest percentage of continuing claims. Some states in the Southwest like Texas and New Mexico and the Midwest like Illinois and Minnesota also have pockets of weakness. Given various states have different unemployment insurance program eligibility requirements, benefit amounts, and program lengths, that is not necessarily to say these are the areas with the highest unemployment rates, but rather these are the places contributing the most to national claims counts.

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