The number of initial jobless claims has declined slightly more than expected.

Weekly jobless claims dropped by 11,000, but the four-week average rose slightly to 234,250. The total claims surpassed 2022 levels, reaching 1,834,497.

Highlights

• Initial jobless claims decline by 11,000 to 239,000.
• The four-week moving average indicates a slight increase.
• Year-over-year claims surpass levels seen in 2022.

The summary for the week ending on August 12 is as follows: Initial jobless claims decreased by 11,000 to a total of 239,000. This is considered an improvement, despite the previous week's figures being revised upward from 248,000 to 250,000.

An important observation from the 4-week moving average is that it increased slightly to 234,250, a change of 2,750 compared to the previous average. It is worth noting that the average from the preceding week was revised upward by 500, reaching 231,500 from its initial value of 231,000.

In the week ending August 5, the rate of advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rose by 0.1 percentage points to reach 1.2 percent. This increase corresponds to 1,716,000 insured unemployed individuals, which is 32,000 more than the previous week's figure of 1,684,000. However, when considering the broader 4-week moving average for insured unemployment, there was a decrease of 8,250, bringing the total to 1,692,750.

When comparing the data to the same week in 2022, there is a notable difference. During the week ending July 29, the total number of continuous benefit claims for all programs was 1,834,497. While this figure decreased by 17,663 from the previous week, it is significantly higher than the 1,481,402 claims reported during the same week in 2022. This suggests that there has been an increase in the number of benefit claims compared to the corresponding period last year.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing survey indicates that manufacturing activity experienced a revival in August. The survey showed positive indicators for general activity, new orders, and shipments, marking the first increase since May 2022. The diffusion index for general activity rebounded to 12.0 from -13.5, with 25% of firms reporting improvements. New orders, which had been negative for 14 consecutive months, jumped to 16.0. However, employment declined, as indicated by the employment index of -6.0. While the price indexes remained close to their long-run averages, there was a decrease in optimism for growth over the next six months, suggesting cautious expectations within the industry.