U.S. Jobless Claims Fall to New Pandemic Low

In the week ending July 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 360,000, a decrease of 26,000 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 13,000 from 373,000 to 386,000. The 4-week moving average was 382,500, a decrease of 14,500 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 2,500 from 394,500 to 397,000. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.4 percent for the week ending July 3, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 3 was 3,241,000, a decrease of 126,000 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 up 28,000 from 3,339,000 to 3,367,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,376,000, a decrease of 71,750 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 21, 2020 when it was 2,071,750. The previous week’s average was revised up by 7,000 from 3,440,750 to 3,447,750.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 383,166 in the week ending July 10, an increase of 544 (or 0.1 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 26,534 (or 6.9 percent) from the previous week. There were 1,512,549 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending July 10, 46 states reported 96,362 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent during the week ending July 3, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 3,119,473, a decrease of 144,521 (or -4.4 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 17,901 (or -0.5 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 11.9 percent and the volume was 17,393,810.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending June 26 was 13,836,598, a decrease of 372,279 from the previous week. There were 30,597,536 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

During the week ending June 26, Extended Benefits were available in the following 11 states: Alaska, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Texas. Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 881 in the week ending July 3, an increase of 4 from the prior week. There were 565 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 15 from the preceding week.

There were 10,833 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending June 26, an increase of 407 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 6,560, a decrease of 59 from the prior week.

During the week ending June 26, 49 states reported 5,687,188 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 49 states reported 4,710,359 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending June 26 were in Puerto Rico (4.8), Nevada (4.3), Georgia (4.2), Rhode Island (4.2), Connecticut (4.0), California (3.6), Illinois (3.5), New Jersey (3.5), Pennsylvania (3.4), and New York (3.3).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending July 3 were in Puerto Rico (+6,722), Pennsylvania (+5,296), New York (+4,730), Texas (+4,645), and California (+2,588), while the largest decreases were in Oklahoma (-2,461), Massachusetts (-1,778), Washington (-1,596), Connecticut (-1,563), and Virginia (-1,371).