Weekly Jobless Claims Up to 1.4 Million, First Rise in Four Months

In the week ending July 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 1,416,000, an increase of 109,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 7,000 from 1,300,000 to 1,307,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,360,250, a decrease of 16,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,750 from 1,375,000 to 1,376,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 11.1 percent for the week ending July 11, a decrease of 0.7 percentage point from the previous week’s revised rate. The previous week’s rate was revised down by 0.1 from 11.9 to 11.8 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 11 was 16,197,000, a decrease of 1,107,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 34,000 from 17,338,000 to 17,304,000. The 4-week moving average was 17,505,250, a decrease of 758,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 8,500 from 18,272,250 to 18,263,750.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 1,370,947 in the week ending July 18, a decrease of 141,816 (or -9.4 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 247,115 (or -16.3 percent) from the previous week. There were 196,382 initial claims in the comparable weekin 2019. In addition, for the week ending July 18, 49 states reported 974,999 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 11.2 percent during the week ending July 11, a decrease of 0.7 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 16,390,919, a decrease of 930,294 (or -5.4 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 190,343 (or 1.1 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.2 percent and the volume was 1,697,505.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending July 4 was 31,802,715, a decrease of 200,615 from the previous week. There were 1,725,953 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending July 4, Extended Benefits were available in the following 52 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,732 in the week ending July 11, an increase of 409 from the prior week.

There were 1,245 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 168 from the preceding week. There were 15,098 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending July 4, an increase of 952 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 14,052, an increase of 1,260 from the prior week.

During the week ending Jul 4, 48 states reported 13,179,880 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 45 states reported 940,113 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending July 4 were in Puerto Rico (26.0), Nevada (21.3), Hawaii (20.7), Georgia (18.0), California (16.9), Louisiana (16.6), New York (16.1), Connecticut (15.4), the Virgin Islands (15.2), and Massachusetts (15.0).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending July 11 were in Florida (+65,890), Georgia (+33,292), California (+20,123), Washington (+16,116), and Indiana (+6,258), while the largest decreases were in Maryland (-13,728), Texas (-11,583), New Jersey (-8,577), Michigan (-6,882), and Louisiana (-5,066).