U.S. Jobless Claims Fall Again as Employment Picture Strengthens

In the week ending April 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 547,000, a decrease of 39,000 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 10,000 from 576,000 to 586,000. The 4–week moving average was 651,000, a decrease of 27,750 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 down by 4,250 from 683,000 to 678,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending April 10, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate.The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 10 was 3,674,000, a decrease of 34,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 21, 2020 when it was 3,094,000. The previous week’s level was revised down by 23,000 from 3,731,000 to 3,708,000. The 4–week moving average was 3,713,000, a decrease of 41,750 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 28, 2020 when it was 3,611,750. The previous week’s average was revised down by 8,250 from 3,763,000 to 3,754,750.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 566,479 in the week ending April 17, a decrease of 56,554 (or –9.1 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 17,548 (or –2.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 4,221,556 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending April 17, 52 states reported 133,319 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.8 percent during the week ending April 10, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 3,862,890, a decrease of 50,774 (or –1.3 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 17,145 (or –0.4 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 11.2 percent and the volume was 16,257,202.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending April 3 was 17,405,094, an increase of 491,674 from the previous week. There were 12,492,421 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

During the week ending April 3, Extended Benefits were available in the following 15states: 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 benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,153 in the week ending April 10, an increase of 41 from the prior week. There were 580 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 10 from the preceding week.

There were 15,896 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending April 3, a decrease of 723 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 7,737, a decrease of 114 from the prior week.

During the week ending April 3, 51 states reported 7,309,604 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 51 states reported 5,605,935 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 3 were in Nevada (5.6), Connecticut (5.2), Alaska (5.1), New York (4.4), Illinois (4.2), Pennsylvania (4.2), District of Columbia (4.1), Rhode Island (4.0), Vermont (4.0), and California (3.7).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 10 were in New York (+16,028), Florida (+9,377), Alabama (+5,517), Washington (+5,380), and Georgia (+4,759), while the largest decreases were in California (–76,082), Virginia (–23,492), Ohio (–21,831), Texas (–17,436), and Kentucky (–15,424).