This blog post was written by Erin Fitzpatrick. Erin is a Summer Research Intern and is currently studying at George Washington University pursuing a B.S. in Economics and a B.A. in Political Science.
- The 4-week moving average for continuous claims for unemployment insurance filed during the week ending July 18 decreased to 2,255,250. Continuous claims for the week ending July 18 increased by 46,000. The decrease of the moving average is consistent with the improving job market. Data for continuous claims lags a week.
- Initial claims data by state lag a week compared to the national level data. For the week ending July 18, the largest increase occurred in California (1,948). This was followed by Rhode Island (382) and Idaho (57). The largest decreases occurred in New York (-21,082), Pennsylvania (-7,456), Illinois (-4,043), New Jersey (-3,941), and Texas (-3,174).
- Nar expects 2.5 million net new jobs in 2015 and 5.3 million in existing home sales.