Weekly Jobless Claims Just Under a Million, First Time in 21 Weeks

In the week ending August 8, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 963,000, a decrease of 228,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 5,000 from 1,186,000 to 1,191,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,252,750, a decrease of 86,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,250 from 1,337,750 to 1,339,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 10.6 percent for the week ending August 1, a decrease of 0.4 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 1 was 15,486,000, a decrease of 604,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 17,000 from 16,107,000 to 16,090,000. The 4-week moving average was 16,169,500, a decrease of 454,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 4,250 from 16,628,250 to 16,624,000.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 831,856 in the week ending August 8, a decrease of 156,453 (or -15.8 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 40,485 (or 4.1 percent) from the previous week. There were 186,914 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. In addition, for the week ending August 8, 52 states reported 488,622 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 10.4 percent during the week ending August 1, a decrease of 0.4 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 15,207,671, a decrease of 624,684 (or -3.9 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 32,180 (or -0.2 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.2 percent and the volume was 1,679,471.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending July 25 was 28,257,995, a decrease of 3,065,616 from the previous week. There were 1,690,746 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending July 25, Extended Benefits were available in the following 52 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Initial claims for UI benefit s filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,118 in the week ending August 1, a decrease of 285 from the prior week. There were 902 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 127 fr om the preceding week.

There were 15,061 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefit s f or the week ending July 25, a decrease of 1,109 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 14,225, a decrease of 2,046 from the prior week.

During the week ending Jul 25, 49 states reported 10,723,396 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 49 states reported 1,224,443 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending July 25 were in Nevada (23.6), Hawaii (21.1), Puerto Rico (19.1), Louisiana (17.3), New York (16.5), California (16.0), Connecticut (15.3), Georgia (14.4), Massachusetts (14.3), and Rhode Island (12.7).

The largest increase in initial claims for the week ending August 1 was in Rhode Island (+87), while the largest decreases were in California (-22,610), Virginia (-19,048), Texas (-14,095), Florida (-13,176), and New Jersey (-11,489).