Metro area costs up for year; NY unemployment filings down

The federal government had mixed economic news for the New York Metro area this morning that included the latest cost of living statistics and unemployment insurance filings.

According to the U. S. Department of Labor”™s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Consumer Price Index in the area is up for the year by 1.7% compared with 2019, but showed a 0.2% decline for October 2020 compared with October 2019.

Prices for food consumed away from home went up by 1% during October while prices for food consumed at home remained flat. The cost of providing a place to live went down 0.8% and energy prices dropped 1.8% with the price of electricity leading the decline, down 3.9%. Apparel prices went down 5.5% during October.

The Department of Labor reported that in the week ending Nov. 7, new initial claims for unemployment insurance nationwide dropped by 48,000 from the previous week, coming in at 709,000. It also reported that as of the week ending Oct. 24, there were 21,157,111 people claiming unemployment insurance benefits in the U.S.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Oct. 24 were in Hawaii, 9.9%; California, 8.9%; New Mexico, 8.5%; Nevada, 8.2%; the Virgin Islands, 7.1%; Massachusetts, 7%; Puerto Rico, 6.9%; Georgia, 6.8%; District of Columbia, 6.5%; and Alaska, 6.1%

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Oct. 31 were in Illinois, up 20,377; Kentucky, up 3,868; Pennsylvania, up 3,768; Ohio up 3,766; and Kansas, up 2,711.

The largest decreases were in Massachusetts, down 8,470; Georgia, down 6,442; New York, down 5,883; Michigan, down 3,067; and New Jersey, down 2,500.

For the week ended Nov. 7, Connecticut saw 5,132 new claims, which was 254 more than the previous week”™s 4,878. In New York, the number dropped by 1,840 to 43,876 from the previous week”™s 45,716 claims.