Jobless Claims Decline for Third Straight Week

In the week ending January 30, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 779,000, a decrease of 33,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 35,000 from 847,000 to 812,000. The 4-week moving average was 848,250, a decrease of 1,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 18,500 from 868,000 to 849,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.2 percent for the week ending January 23, 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 23 was 4,592,000, a decrease of 193,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 14,000 from 4,771,000 to 4,785,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,881,750, a decrease of 120,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 3,750 from 4,998,000 to 5,001,750.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 816,247 in the week ending January 30, a decrease of 23,525 (or -2.8 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 9,880 (or 1.2 percent) from the previous week. There were 224,664 initial claims in the comparable week in2020. In addition, for the week ending January 30, 48 states reported 348,912 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6 percent during the week ending January 23, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 5,094,605, a decrease of 127,726 (or -2.4 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 64,804 (or 1.2 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.5 percent and the volume was 2,152,733.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending January 16 was 17,835,525, a decrease of 486,405 from the previous week. There were 2,108,515 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

During the week ending January 16, Extended Benefits were available in the following 20states: Alaska, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan,Nevada, 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 1,914 in the week ending January 23, a decrease of 261 from the prior week. There were 1,168 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 261 from the preceding week.

There were 19,242 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending January 16, an increase of 1,176 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 8,613, a decrease of 930 from the prior week.

During the week ending January 16, 50 states reported 7,217,713 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 50 states reported 3,603,098 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending January 16 were in Alaska (6.4), Pennsylvania (6.4), Nevada (6.1), Illinois (5.7), Kansas (5.7), Connecticut (5.4), New Mexico (5.4), Rhode Island (5.2), Massachusetts (5.0), and New York (4.9).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 23 were in Florida (+23,592), Ohio (+7,002), New York (+4,065), Maryland (+2,450), and Arizona (+1,028), while the largest decreases were in California (-59,016), Kansas (-8,495), Georgia (-7,896), Pennsylvania (-6,341), and Tennessee (-6,016).