U.S. Jobless Claims Jump to 351,000, Surprise after Pandemic Lows in Past Weeks

In the week ending September 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 351,000, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 3,000 from 332,000 to 335,000. The 4-week moving average was 335,750, a decrease of 750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 750 from 335,750 to 336,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent for the week ending September 11, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s revised rate. The previous week’s rate was revised up by 0.1 from 1.9 to 2.0 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending September 11 was 2,845,000, an increase of 131,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 49,000 from 2,665,000 to 2,714,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,804,000, a decrease of 15,750 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 12,250 from 2,807,500 to 2,819,750.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 306,209 in the week ending September 18, an increase of 40,307 (or 15.2 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 24,527 (or 9.2 percent) from the previous week. There were 815,892 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending September 18, 38 states reported 15,162 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent during the week ending September 11, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 2,534,759, an increase of 156,833 (or 6.6 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 26,597 (or 1.1 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 8.5 percent and the volume was 12,391,891.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending September 4 was 11,250,287, a decrease of 856,440 from the previous week. There were 26,644,091 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

During the week ending September 4, 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 736 in the week ending September 11, an increase of 193 from the prior week. There were 452 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 95 from the preceding week.

There were 7,816 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending September 4, a decrease of 907 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 5,457, a decrease of 597 from the prior week.
During the week ending September 4, 47 states reported 4,896,125 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 47 states reported 3,644,555 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending September 4 were in Puerto Rico (4.4), District of Columbia (4.2), California (3.1), New Jersey (3.0), Illinois (2.8), Nevada (2.8), New York (2.8), Rhode Island (2.7), Hawaii (2.5), and Connecticut (2.2).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending September 11 were in Louisiana (+4,318), District of Columbia (+3,783), Arizona (+3,739), Maryland (+2,018), and Missouri (+1,658), while the largest decreases were in Illinois (-7,481), California (-5,950), Ohio (-4,665), Texas (-3,635), and Virginia (-2,357).