U.S. Jobless Claims at All-Time Pandemic Low

In the week ending May 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 444,000, a decrease of 34,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000. The previous week’s level was revised up by 5,000 from 473,000 to 478,000. The 4–week moving average was 504,750, a decrease of 30,500 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 225,500. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,250 from 534,000 to 535,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.7 percent for the week ending May 8, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 8 was 3,751,000, an increase of 111,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 15,000 from 3,655,000 to 3,640,000. The 4–week moving average was 3,681,000, an increase of 24,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 8,750 from 3,665,000 to 3,656,250.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 454,634 in the week ending May 15, a decrease of 37,395 (or –7.6 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 3,414 (or –0.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 2,163,595 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending May 15, 53 states reported 95,086 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent during the week ending May 8, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 3,684,082, a decrease of 10,323 (or –0.3 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 121,208 (or –3.3 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 15.8 percent and the volume was 23,037,998.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending May 1 was 15,975,448, a decrease of 886,568 from the previous week. There were 20,974,625 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

During the week ending May 1, Extended Benefits were available in the following 15 states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and the Virgin Islands .

Initial claims for UI benefit s filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 931 in the week ending May 8, an increase of 4 from the prior week. There were 609 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 83 from the preceding week.

There were 13,785 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending May 1, a decrease of 759 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 7,321, an increase of 34 from the prior week.

During the week ending May 1, 51 states reported 6,605,416 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 51 states reported 5,141,311 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending May 1 were in Nevada (6.1), Connecticut (4.6), Puerto Rico (4.6), Alaska (4.3), Rhode Island (4.3), Vermont (4.3), New York (4.1), Pennsylvania (4.0), the Virgin Islands (4.0), and Illinois (3.9).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 8 were in Georgia (+7,404), Washington (+6,111), Illinois (+3,221), Pennsylvania (+2,156), and Ohio (+1,371), while the largest decreases were in Michigan (–13,990), New York (–8,106), Vermont (–5,835), Nevada (–2,835), and Florida (–2,210).