The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that in the week ending November 16, the figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 323,000, which is lower than the previous week’s revised figure of 344,000. This signifies a continual decrease in the month of November in national unemployment claims.
In the same period last year initial seasonally adjusted claims were at 400,000, with the four-week moving average of 395,250-roughly a 23% decrease, which is a significant statistic. The decreases were spread out all across the United States with Florida leading the pack because of fewer layoffs in agriculture, construction, manufacturing, retail trade and the service industries. California led the pack in terms of increases in unemployment claims with 4737 additional claims, reportedly due to layoffs in the service industry. Though California’s numbers are greater in terms of absolute value, they may be lower in terms of overall size of the economy.
New York and Pennsylvania were distant second and third in terms of increases in seasonally adjusted unemployment claims due to layoffs in manufacturing, construction, entertainment, recreation industries, and technology services.
The national unemployment rate is currently at 7.3% (as of October 2013) and is continuing its slow but clear decrease since January of 2010,