U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Up Sharply as COVID-19 Cases Rise to Record Numbers

In the week ending December 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 853,000, an increase of 137,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 4,000 from 712,000 to 716,000. The 4-week moving average was 776,000, an increase of 35,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,000 from 739,500 to 740,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.9 percent for the week ending November 28, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending November 28 was 5,757,000, an increase of 230,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 7,000 from 5,520,000 to 5,527,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,935,750, a decrease of 260,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,750 from 6,194,250 to 6,196,000.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 947,504 in the week ending December 5, an increase of 228,982 (or 31.9 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 92,333 (or 12.9 percent) from the previous week. There were 317,866 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. In addition, for the week ending December 5, 52 states reported 427,609 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending November 21 was 19,043,429, a decrease of 1,120,049 from the previous week. There were 1,535,274 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending November 21, Extended Benefits were available in the following 33 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, Washington, and West Virginia.

Initial claims for UI benefit s filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,933 in the week ending November 28, a decrease of 873 from the prior week. There were 625 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 198 from the preceding week.

There were 13,788 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees for the week ending November 21, a decrease of 706 from the previous week. Continued weekly claims filed by newly discharged veterans totaled 9,143, a decrease of 2,011 from the prior week.

During the week ending November 21, 51 states reported 8,555,763 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 51 states reported 4,532,876 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending November 21 were in Alaska (6.3), California (6.3), New Mexico (6.1), Nevada (6.0), Hawaii ( 5.6), Massachusetts (5.1), District of Columbia (5.0), Illinois (5.0), Washington (4.7), and Georgia (4.6). The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending November 28 were in Illinois (+8,535), Oregon (+5,461), Colorado (+1,905), Indiana (+1,746), and Louisiana (+1,735), while the largest decreases were in California (-37,803), Texas (-14,123), Michigan (-10,976), Georgia (-9,905), and Washington (-7,881).