U.S. Jobless Claims Drop to 553K, Lowest since Pandemic Hit

In the week ending April 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 553,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 19,000 from 547,000 to 566,000. The 4-week moving average was 611,750, a decrease of 44,000 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 225,500. The previous week’s average was revised up by 4,750 from 651,000 to 655,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending April 17, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 17 was 3,660,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 23,000 from 3,674,000 to 3,651,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,684,000, a decrease of 23,250 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 28, 2020 when it was 3,611,750. The previous week’s average was revised down by 5,750 from 3,713,000 to 3,707,250.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 575,350 in the week ending April 24, a decrease of 9,486 (or –1.6 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 2,706 (or 0.5 percent) from the previous week. There were 3,468,261 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending April 24, 53 states reported 121,749 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.7 percent during the week ending April 17, a decrease of 0.1 percentagepoint from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 3,790,527, a decrease of 49,902 (or –1.3 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 58,556 (or –1.5 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 12.2 percent and the volume was 17,770,222.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending April 10 was 16,559,276, a decrease of 845,874 from the previous week. There were 16,319,176 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

During the week ending April 10, Extended Benefits were available in the following 15 states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and the Virgin Islands.

Initial claims for UI benefit s filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,103 in the week ending April 17, a decrease of 50 from the prior week. There were 556 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 24 from the preceding week.

There were 15,389 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilianemployees the week ending April 10, a decrease of 508 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 7,809, an increase of 72 from the prior week.

During the week ending April 10, 51 states reported 6,974,068 continued weeklyclaims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 51 states reported 5,192,711 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 10 were in Nevada (5.9), Connecticut (5.3), Alaska (4.9), New York (4.6), Illinois (4.3), Vermont (4.1), Rhode Island (4.0), Pennsylvania (3.9), District of Columbia (3.7), and New Mexico (3.7).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 17 were in Virginia (+8,717), Michigan (+6,300), Indiana (+4,484), Utah (+4,060), and California (+3,417), while the largest decreases were in Texas (–20,036), New York (–16,840), Georgia (–6,001), Florida (–5,564), and Washington (–4,031).