U.S. Jobless Claims Hit New Pandemic Low

In the week ending August 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 348,000, a decrease of 29,000 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 2,000 from 375,000 to 377,000. The 4–week moving average was 377,750, a decrease of 19,000 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 500 from 396,250 to 396,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent for the week ending August 7, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 7 was 2,820,000, a decrease of 79,000 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 33,000 from 2,866,000 to 2,899,000. The 4–week moving average was 2,998,750, a decrease of 110,500 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 8,250 from 3,101,000 to 3,109,250.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 308,574 in the week ending August 14, a decrease of 14,469 (or –4.5 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 14,901 (or 4.6 percent) from the previous week. There were 879,545 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending August 14, 44 states reported 109,379 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent during the week ending August 7, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 2,763,782, a decrease of 86,599 (or –3.0 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 8,229 (or –0.3 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 9.7 percent and the volume was 14,155,552.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending July 31 was 11,743,515, a decrease of 311,787 from the previous week. There were 28,676,558 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

During the week ending July 31, Extended Benefits were available in the following 10 states: Alaska, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Texas. Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 669 in the week ending August 7, an increase of 22 from the prior week. There were 625 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 127 from the preceding week.

There were 9,478 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending July 31, an increase of 205 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 5,935, a decrease of 242 from the prior week.

During the week ending July 31, 47 states reported 4,877,668 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 47 states reported 3,786,488 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending July 31 were in Puerto Rico (4.9), California (3.8), Illinois (3.6), District of Columbia (3.2), New York (3.2), Connecticut (3.1), Rhode Island (3.1), New Jersey (3.0), the Virgin Islands (3.0), and Nevada (2.8).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending August 7 were in Virginia (+4,197), California (+3,267), Maryland (+1,738), Oregon (+1,602), and Illinois (+1,430), while the largest decreases were in Michigan (–4,093), New York (–2,921), Georgia (–2,623), Indiana (–2,577), and Missouri (–2,401).