Another 411K U.S. Jobless Claims Last Week, Slight Decrease over Previous Week

In the week ending June 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 411,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 6,000 from 412,000 to 418,000. The 4–week moving average was 397,750, an increase of 1,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,250 from 395,000 to 396,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.4 percent for the week ending June 12, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending June 12 was 3,390,000, a decrease of 144,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 21, 2020 when it was 3,094,000. The previous week’s level was revised up 16,000 from 3,518,000 to 3,534,000. The 4–week moving average was 3,552,500, a decrease of 55,250 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 21, 2020 when it was 2,071,750. The previous week’s average was revised up by 4,000 from 3,603,750 to 3,607,750.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 393,078 in the week ending June 19, a decrease of 14,720 (or –3.6 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 7,823 (or –1.9 percent) from the previous week. There were 1,447,127 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending June 19, 51 states reported 104,682 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent during the week ending June 12, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 3,210,285, a decrease of 94,092 (or –2.8 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 50,364 (or 1.5 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 12.2 percent and the volume was 17,823,790.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending June 5 was 14,845,450, an increase of 3,756 from the previous week. There were 31,337,556 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

During the week ending June 5, Extended Benefits were available in the following 12 states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Texas.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 905 in the week ending June 12, an increase of 292 from the prior week. There were 569 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 141 from the preceding week.

There were 10,764 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending June 5, a decrease of 276 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 6,554, an increase of 205 from the prior week.

During the week ending June 5, 51 states reported 5,950,167 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 51 states reported 5,273,180 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending June 5 were in the Virgin Islands (19.5), Rhode Island (4.8), Nevada (4.5), California (3.9), Connecticut (3.9), Puerto Rico (3.9), Alaska (3.7), Illinois (3.6), New York (3.6), and District of Columbia (3.2).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending June 12 were in Pennsylvania (+21,905), California (+15,131), Kentucky (+9,172), Florida (+3,344), and Texas (+3,127), while the largest decreases were in Michigan (–5,615), Delaware (–2,516), Washington (–1,998), Tennessee (–1,746), and Alabama (–1,706).