U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Show Modest Decline

In the week ending January 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 900,000, a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 39,000 from 965,000 to 926,000. The 4-week moving average was 848,000, an increase of 23,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 9,750 from 834,250 to 824,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6 percent for the week ending January 9, unchanged from the previous week’s revised rate. The previous week’s rate was revised down by 0.1 from 3.7 to 3.6 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 9 was 5,054,000, a decrease of 127,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 90,000 from 5,271,000 to 5,181,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,126,250, a decrease of 67,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 22,500 from 5,215,750 to 5,193,250.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 960,668 in the week ending January 16, a decrease of 151,303 (or -13.6 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 124,946 (or -11.2 percent) from the previous week. There were 282,088 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending January 16, 47 states reported 423,734 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.9 percent during the week ending January 9, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 5,563,048, a decrease of 203,750 (or -3.5 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 76,466 (or -1.3 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.5 percent and the volume was 2,141,587.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending January 2 was 15,994,519, a decrease of 2,412,508 from the previous week. There were 2,278,239 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

During the week ending January 2, Extended Benefits were available in the following 20 states: Alaska, California,Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, the Virgin Islands, and Washington.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 3,139 in the week ending January 9, an increase of 1,131 from the prior week. There were 1,249 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 189 from the preceding week.

There were 18,620 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending January 2, an increase of 1,747 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 9,702, an increase of 202 from the prior week.

During the week ending January 2, 49 states reported 5,707,397 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 51 states reported 3,026,952 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending January 2 were in Kansas (7.5), Pennsylvania (7.2), Alaska (6.6), Illinois (6.1), Nevada (5.9), California (5.8), Puerto Rico (5.8), New Mexico (5.7), Colorado (5.6), and Minnesota (5.5).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 9 were in Illinois(+49,557), Kansas (+22,128), California (+21,636), Texas (+18,732), and New York (+16,204), while the largest decreases were in Colorado (-10,996), Michigan (-5,802), Kentucky (-5,542), Louisiana (-4,868), and Washington (-2,573)