U.S. Jobless Claims Rose to Highest Level since Mid-November of Last Year

In the week ending January 8, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 230,000, an increase of 23,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 207,000. The 4-week moving average was 210,750, an increase of 6,250 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 204,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.1 percent for the week ending January 1, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 1 was 1,559,000, a decrease of 194,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since June 2, 1973 when it was 1,556,000. The previous week’s level was revised down by 1,000 from 1,754,000 to 1,753,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,721,500, a decrease of 77,000 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 7, 2020 when it was 1,714,500. The previous week’s average was revised down by 250 from 1,798,750 to 1,798,500

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 419,446 in the week ending January 8, an increase of 103,693 (or 32.8 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 81,072 (or 25.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 1,082,696 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.5 percent during the week ending January 1, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 2,056,818, an increase of 187,075 (or 10.0 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 381,506 (or 20.4 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 4.1 percent and the volume was 5,756,886.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending December 25 was 1,948,624, an increase of 226,264 from the previous week. There were 19,377,528 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

During the week ending December 25, Extended Benefits were available in the following 3 states: Connecticut, New Jersey, and New Mexico.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 700 in the week ending January 1, a decrease of 23 from the prior week. There were 339 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 66 from the preceding week.

There were 9,619 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending December 25, an increase of 197 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 4,551, an increase of 315 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending December 25 were in Alaska (3.2), Minnesota (2.6), California (2.5), New Jersey (2.4), Illinois (2.3), New York (2.3), Massachusetts (2.1), Rhode Island (2.1), Connecticut (2.0), and Oregon (1.9).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 1 were in New York (+8,812), Pennsylvania (+6,772), Connecticut (+6,020), Washington (+4,626), and Michigan (+3,923), while the largest decreases were in Missouri (-1,086), Tennessee (-674), Puerto Rico (-329), Rhode Island (-288), and New Mexico (-101).