In the week ending July 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 385,000, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 1,000 from 400,000 to 399,000. The 4–week moving average was 394,000, a decrease of 250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 250 from 394,500 to 394,250.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent for the week ending July 24, a decrease of 0.3 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 24 was 2,930,000, a decrease of 366,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 14, 2020 when it was 1,770,000. The previous week’s level was revised up 27,000 from 3,269,000 to 3,296,000. The 4–week moving average was 3,188,250, a decrease of 109,250 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 6,750 from 3,290,750 to 3,297,500.
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 323,763 in the week ending July 31, a decrease of 20,602 (or –6.0 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 6,024 (or –1.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 983,780 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending July 31, 46 states reported 94,476 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent during the week ending July 24, a decrease of 0.3 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 2,880,564, a decrease of 393,237 (or –12.0 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 27,216 (or –0.8 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 10.9 percent and the volume was 15,913,644.
The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending July 17 was 12,975,015, a decrease of 181,251 from the previous week. There were 31,987,359 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.
During the week ending July 17, Extended Benefits were available in the following 12 states: Alaska, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, and Texas.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 703 in the week ending July 24, a decrease of 377 from the prior week. There were 492 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 169 from the preceding week.
There were 10,142 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending July 17, a decrease of 426 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 6,893, an increase of 135 from the prior week.
During the week ending July 17, 47 states reported 5,156,982 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 47 states reported 4,246,207 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending July 17 were in California (5.2), Puerto Rico (5.1), Nevada (4.1), Rhode Island (4.0), Illinois (3.7), New Jersey (3.7), Connecticut (3.3), New York (3.3), District of Columbia (3.1), and Pennsylvania (3.0).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending July 24 were in California (+8,010), Tennessee (+1,694), Michigan (+449), New Jersey (+420), and Florida (+140), while the largest decreases were in Pennsylvania (–21,218),
Texas (–11,154), Kentucky (–7,185), Illinois (–7,060), and Missouri (–5,351).
