Unemployment dropped by 4 thousand claims last week, though claims were still up slightly compared to a month prior, according to U.S. Department of Labor. The D O L ’s latest weekly report on unemployment claims found 2 hundred 62 thousand claims for the week ending August 13. This marks the 76th consecutive week of initial claims below 300 thousand, the longest streak since 1970.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1 point 6 percent for the week ending August 6, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The 4-week moving average was 2 point 155 million, an increase of 10 thousand 750 from the previous week's revised average. Unadjusted, the advance number of actual initial claims under state programs totaled 219 thousand 544 in the week ending August 13, a decrease of 5 point 2 percent from the previous week. There were 229 thousand 251 initial claims in the comparable week of 2015.
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro recently announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will quickly provide federal disaster assistance to the State of Louisiana as well as provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes due to severe storms and flooding. Specifically, HUD is granting immediate foreclosure relief to these homeowners.