Jobless Claims Rise amid Growing Urgency for Stimulus Package

In the week ending October 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 898,000, an increase of 53,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 5,000 from 840,000 to 845,000. The 4-week moving average was 866,250, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,250 from 857,000 to 858,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 6.8 percent for the week ending October 3, a decrease of 0.9 percentage point from the previous week’s revised rate. The previous week’s rate was revised up by 0.2 from 7.5 to 7.7 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending October 3 was 10,018,000, a decrease of 1,165,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 207,000 from 10,976,000 to 11,183,000. The 4-week moving average was 11,481,750, a decrease of 682,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 51,750 from 12,112,250 to 12,164,000.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 885,885 in the week ending October 10, an increase of 76,670 (or 9.5 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 23,144 (or 2.9 percent) from the previous week. There were 201,677 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. In addition, for the week ending October 10, 51 states reported 372,891 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 6.6 percent during the week ending October 3, a decrease of 0.8 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 9,631,588, a decrease of 1,188,202 (or -11.0 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 22,926 (or -0.2 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 0.9 percent and the volume was 1,369,887.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending September 26 was 25,290,325, a decrease of 215,270 from the previous week. There were 1,415,539 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending September 19, Extended Benefits were available in the following 45states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi,Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,438 in the week ending October 3, an increase of 341 from the prior week.

There were 949 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 52 from the preceding week. There were 12,126 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending September 26, a decrease of 10 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 13,264, a decrease of 494 from the prior week.

During the week ending September 26, 51 states reported 11,172,335 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 49 states reported 2,778,007 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending September 26 were in Hawaii (17.9), California (16.1), Nevada (12.5), Puerto Rico (10.5), Louisiana (10.3), Georgia (10.1), New York (10.0), District of Columbia (9.1), Michigan (9.0), and New Mexico (8.8).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending October 3 were in Florida (+9,933), Illinois (+6,877), Massachusetts (+4,021), North Carolina (+2,907), and Maryland (+1,714), while the largest decreases were in New Jersey (-3,504), Kansas (-3,312), Pennsylvania (-3,111), Louisiana (-2,835), and Washington (-2,474).