{"id":27050,"date":"2016-01-28T15:33:30","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T21:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=27050"},"modified":"2016-01-28T15:33:30","modified_gmt":"2016-01-28T21:33:30","slug":"u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. jobless claims down, trend expected to continue"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kaitlin Schuler<\/strong><\/p>\n

The number of initial jobless claims made by Americans declined last week, indicating continued stability in the country\u2019s labor market as unemployment remains at 5 percent.<\/p>\n

According to a report<\/a> Thursday by the Department of Labor, initial claims decreased by 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 278,000 in the week ended Jan. 23. Illinois saw a decrease of 3,362 initial claims in the week ended Jan. 16. The state\u2019s current initial claims sit at 16,070, following the national trend of decreasing initial claims.
\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe economy is improving nationally and in Illinois,\u201d said Robert Kaestner, director of graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Kaestner is also a professor in both the Institute of Government and Public Affairs and the Department of Economics at UIC.<\/p>\n

\u201cCorporate earnings seem to be fine,\u201d Kaestner said. \u201cPeople are nervous because of what\u2019s going on in the stock markets and the volatility there but that doesn\u2019t mean that the economy is getting a cold or going to get sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initial claims are seen as an important indicator of the health of the economy, as it points to emerging labor market conditions in the United States, according to the Labor Department.
\nContinuing claims\u2014those who have already filed an initial claim and have experienced a week of unemployment\u2014 increased 2.7 percent to 2,268,000 in the week ended Jan. 16. They are reported with a one-week delay.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time the jobs claims decrease it could be because more people are employed, or it could be because people are leaving the labor market,\u201d said Ben Feigenberg, an assistant professor of economics at UIC who focuses on development and labor economics.<\/p>\n

Initial claims hit the lowest levels since the 1970s last summer, after a large increase during the recession and a steady decline after March 2009. Feigenberg said this trend is likely to continue, though there are some concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven problems in the global economy and large fluctuations in the Chinese market, there are some worries that this will flow into the U.S. labor market,\u201d Feigenberg said, \u201cbut we haven\u2019t seen that happen yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four-week moving average for initial claims was 283,000 in the week ended Jan. 16, down 2,250 from the previous week\u2019s revised average. On the other hand, the four-week moving average for continuing claims for the same period increased 1.7 percent to 2,245,250. These\u00a0averages\u00a0help smooth out the effects of random price fluctuations and identify trend direction.<\/p>\n

Kaestner also stated that he sees no reason currently for the decline in jobless claims to stop, unless the U.S. is adversely affected by world events in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might slow down in terms of employment growth, as more and more people are actually working,\u201d he said, \u201cbut that\u2019s a natural consequence of the improving economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Labor Department, no special factors played into this week\u2019s initial claims.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Jobless claims have been declining since March 2009, and economists expect the trend to continue. | The United States Department of Labor (USDOL) hosts the \u201cFuture of Work\u201d symposium focusing on the how work will be defined in the 21st Century. 10 December 2015 \u2013 Washington, D.C. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Labor<\/a>\/flickr<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kaitlin Schuler The number of initial jobless claims made by Americans declined last week, indicating continued stability in the country\u2019s labor market as unemployment remains at 5 percent. According to a report Thursday by the Department of Labor, initial claims decreased by 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 278,000 in the week ended Jan. 23. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":255,"featured_media":27066,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,585],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-winter-2016"],"yoast_head":"\nU.S. jobless claims down, trend expected to continue - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"U.S. jobless claims down, trend expected to continue - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kaitlin Schuler The number of initial jobless claims made by Americans declined last week, indicating continued stability in the country\u2019s labor market as unemployment remains at 5 percent. According to a report Thursday by the Department of Labor, initial claims decreased by 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 278,000 in the week ended Jan. 23. […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-28T21:33:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/DOL-resize-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"kaitlinschuler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"kaitlinschuler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/\",\"name\":\"U.S. jobless claims down, trend expected to continue - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/DOL-resize-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-28T21:33:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/f74435908ec0eaffd65410016486fb28\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/DOL-resize-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/DOL-resize-2.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":733,\"caption\":\"10 December 2015 \u2013 Washington, DC \u2013 Jobless claims have been declining since March 2009, and economists expect the trend to continue. | The United States Department of Labor (USDOL) hosts the \u201cFuture of Work\u201d symposium focusing on the how work will be defined in the 21st Century.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"U.S. jobless claims down, trend expected to continue\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/f74435908ec0eaffd65410016486fb28\",\"name\":\"kaitlinschuler\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32ba15979679931c02a0604d04ab9004d108ed186d3b42b9ffc7554ad2dcc17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32ba15979679931c02a0604d04ab9004d108ed186d3b42b9ffc7554ad2dcc17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"kaitlinschuler\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/kaitlinschuler\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"U.S. jobless claims down, trend expected to continue - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"U.S. jobless claims down, trend expected to continue - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Kaitlin Schuler The number of initial jobless claims made by Americans declined last week, indicating continued stability in the country\u2019s labor market as unemployment remains at 5 percent. According to a report Thursday by the Department of Labor, initial claims decreased by 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 278,000 in the week ended Jan. 23. […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2016-01-28T21:33:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":733,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/DOL-resize-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"kaitlinschuler","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"kaitlinschuler","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/","name":"U.S. jobless claims down, trend expected to continue - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/DOL-resize-2.jpg","datePublished":"2016-01-28T21:33:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/f74435908ec0eaffd65410016486fb28"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/DOL-resize-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/DOL-resize-2.jpg","width":1100,"height":733,"caption":"10 December 2015 \u2013 Washington, DC \u2013 Jobless claims have been declining since March 2009, and economists expect the trend to continue. | The United States Department of Labor (USDOL) hosts the \u201cFuture of Work\u201d symposium focusing on the how work will be defined in the 21st Century."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-s-jobless-claims-down-trend-expected-to-continue\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"U.S. jobless claims down, trend expected to continue"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/f74435908ec0eaffd65410016486fb28","name":"kaitlinschuler","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32ba15979679931c02a0604d04ab9004d108ed186d3b42b9ffc7554ad2dcc17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32ba15979679931c02a0604d04ab9004d108ed186d3b42b9ffc7554ad2dcc17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"kaitlinschuler"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/kaitlinschuler\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/255"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}