IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedkrw/rwp13-03.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Revisiting the use of initial jobless claims as a labor market indicator

Author

Listed:
  • John Carter Braxton

Abstract

Initial jobless claims provide a weekly snapshot of the labor market. While known for being volatile, when put into the appropriate context initial claims can provide valuable information on the upcoming employment report. This paper introduces a new labor market indicator, referred to as the threshold of initial jobless claims, that serves as a benchmark of comparison for the weekly reporting of initial jobless claims. The threshold incorporates multiple margins of the labor market such as hires, quits, layoffs, and labor force participation. Deviations of observed initial claims from the threshold are shown to provide accurate estimates of the upcoming change in the unemployment rate. Labor market followers can then make weekly comparisons of observed initial claims to the threshold to gain an updated understanding on the current state of the labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • John Carter Braxton, 2013. "Revisiting the use of initial jobless claims as a labor market indicator," Research Working Paper RWP 13-03, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedkrw:rwp13-03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.kansascityfed.org/documents/7706/rwp13-03.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kevin L. Kliesen & Michael W. McCracken & Linpeng Zheng, 2011. "Initial claims and employment growth: are we at the threshold?," Economic Synopses, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    2. William T. Gavin & Kevin L. Kliesen, 2002. "Unemployment insurance claims and economic activity," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 84(May), pages 15-28.
    3. Margaret M. McConnell, 1998. "Rethinking the value of initial claims as a forecasting tool," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 4(Nov).
    4. Kevin L. Kliesen & David C. Wheelock, 2012. "How well do initial claims forecast employment growth over the business cycle and over time?," Economic Synopses, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    5. Katherine Kuang & Robert G. Valletta, 2011. "Recent layoffs in a fragile labor market," FRBSF Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue sep26.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marcelle Chauvet & Jeremy M. Piger, 2003. "Identifying business cycle turning points in real time," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 85(Mar), pages 47-61.
    2. Hassan Mohammadi & Daniel Rich, 2013. "Dynamics of Unemployment Insurance Claims: An Application of ARIMA-GARCH Models," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 41(4), pages 413-425, December.
    3. Todd E. Clark & Michael W. McCracken, 2009. "Combining Forecasts from Nested Models," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 71(3), pages 303-329, June.
    4. Francisco Blasques & Siem Jan Koopman & André Lucas, 2014. "Optimal Formulations for Nonlinear Autoregressive Processes," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 14-103/III, Tinbergen Institute.
    5. Min Jeong Kim & Dohyoung Kwon, 2023. "Dynamic asset allocation strategy: an economic regime approach," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(2), pages 136-147, March.
    6. Emara, Noha & Ma, Jinpeng, 2019. "An Analysis of the Seasonal Cycle and the Business Cycle," MPRA Paper 99310, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. William T. Gavin & Kevin L. Kliesen, 2002. "Unemployment insurance claims and economic activity," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 84(May), pages 15-28.
    8. Kevin L. Kliesen, 2014. "A guide to tracking the U.S. economy," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 96(1), pages 35-54.
    9. Kevin L. Kliesen & David C. Wheelock, 2012. "How well do initial claims forecast employment growth over the business cycle and over time?," Economic Synopses, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fip:fedkrw:rwp13-03. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Zach Kastens (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbkcus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.