U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Fall Below 800K, Sign of Leveling Off

In the week ending October 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 787,000, a decrease of 55,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 56,000 from 898,000 to 842,000. The 4-week moving average was 811,250, a decrease of 21,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 33,500 from 866,250 to 832,750. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 5.7 percent for the week ending October 10, a decrease of 0.7 percentage point from the previous week’s revised rate. The previous week’s rate was revised down by 0.4 from 6.8 to 6.4 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending October 10 was 8,373,000, a decrease of 1,024,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 621,000 from 10,018,000 to 9,397,000. The 4-week moving average was 10,085,750, a decrease of 1,093,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 302,500 from 11,481,750 to 11,179,250.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 756,617 in the week ending October 17, a decrease of 73,125 (or -8.8 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 18,362 (or -2.2 percent) from the previous week. There were 186,748 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. In addition, for the week ending October 17, 53states reported 345,440initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 5.5 percent during the week ending October 10, a decrease of 0.6 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 7,992,238, a decrease of 1,018,737 (or -11.3 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 6,014 (or 0.1 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.0 percent and the volume was 1,386,868.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending October 3 was 23,150,427, a decrease of 1,046,493 from the previous week. There were 1,393,973 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending October 3, Extended Benefits were available in the following 44 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,519 in the week ending October 10, an increase of 51 from the prior week. There were 898 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 4 from the preceding week.

There were 11,930 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending October 3, a decrease of 229 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 13,821, a decrease of 30 from the prior week.

During the week ending Oct 3, 51 states reported 10,232,853 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 50 states reported 3,296,156 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending October 3 were in Hawaii (14.9), California (11.5), Nevada (11.3), Georgia (9.3), Puerto Rico (9.3), Louisiana (8.8), District of Columbia (8.4), New Mexico (7.8), New York (7.7), and Illinois (7.6).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending October 10 were in California (+27,870), Illinois (+11,261), Massachusetts (+10,481), Georgia (+9,292), and Indiana (+7,840), while the largest decreases were in Michigan (-2,615), North Carolina (-2,362), Virginia (-1,733), Montana (-579), and Mississippi (-375).