U.S. Jobless Claims Decrease Slightly as Stimulus Debate Continues

In the week ending January 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 847,000, a decrease of 67,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 14,000 from 900,000 to 914,000. The 4-week moving average was 868,000, an increase of 16,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 3,750 from 848,000 to 851,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.4 percent for the week ending January 16, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s revised rate. The previous week’s rate was revised down by 0.1 from 3.6 to 3.5 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January16 was 4,771,000, a decrease of 203,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 80,000 from 5,054,000 to 4,974,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,998,000, a decrease of 106,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 21,500 from 5,126,250 to 5,104,750.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 873,966 in the week ending January 23, a decrease of 101,498 (or -10.4 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 33,673 (or -3.5 percent) from the previous week. There were 229,002 initial claims in the comparable weekin 2020. In addition, for the week ending January 23, 48 states reported 426,856 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.7 percent during the week ending January 16, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 5,208,719, a decrease of 274,055 (or -5.0 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 71,477 (or -1.3 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.4 percent and the volume was 2,079,050.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending January 9 was 18,282,090, an increase of 2,293,495 from the previous week. There were 2,171,827 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

During the week ending January 9, Extended Benefits were available in the following 19 states: Alaska, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon,Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, the Virgin Islands, and Washington.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,175 in the week ending January 16, a decrease of 965 from the prior week. There were 1,429 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 178 from the preceding week.

There were 18,066 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending January 9, a decrease of 558 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 9,543, a decrease of 158 from the prior week. During the week ending January 9, 50 states reported 7,334,193 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 50 states reported 3,863,548 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending January 9 were in Kansas (7.7), Pennsylvania (7.0), the Virgin Islands (6.9), Alaska (6.4), Nevada (6.1), Michigan (5.6), Puerto Rico (5.6), Illinois (5.5), New Mexico (5.5), and Connecticut (5.4).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 16 were in Florida(+8,643), Maryland (+7,935), Kansas (+6,746), Ohio (+5,665), and Rhode Island (+2,998), while the largest decreases were in California (-65,383), New York (-10,936), Texas (-9,170), Pennsylvania (-8,503), and Washington (-7,877).