U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Fall for Second Straight Week

In the week ending January 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 238,000, a decrease of 23,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 1,000 from 260,000 to 261,000. The 4-week moving average was 255,000, an increase of 7,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 250 from 247,000 to 247,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending January 22, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 22 was 1,628,000, a decrease of 44,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 3,000 from 1,675,000 to 1,672,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,619,750, a decrease of 31,250 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since August 4, 1973 when it was 1,608,750. The previous week’s average was revised down by 750 from 1,651,750 to 1,651,000

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 257,002 in the week ending January 29, a decrease of 11,728 (or -4.4 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 11,183 (or 4.2 percent) from the previous week. There were 849,650 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.5 percent during the week ending January 22, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 2,040,548, an increase of 39,320 (or 2.0 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 83,384 (or 4.2 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 3.7 percent and the volume was 5,193,816.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending January 15 was 2,067,781, a decrease of 73,205 from the previous week. There were 18,521,105 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.

During the week ending January 15, Extended Benefits were available in the following 2 states: New Jersey, and New Mexico.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 684 in the week ending January 22, a decrease of 255 from the prior week. There were 362 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 77 from the preceding week.

There were 10,911 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending January 15, an increase of 781 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 4,714, a decrease of 332 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending January 15 were in Alaska (3.0), the Virgin Islands (3.0), New Jersey (2.6), California (2.5), Minnesota (2.5), New York (2.4), Rhode Island (2.4), Illinois (2.3), Kentucky (2.3), and Massachusetts (2.3).

The only increase in initial claims for the week ending January 22 was in Alabama (+628), while the largest decreases were in California (-8,078), Pennsylvania (-7,967), New York (-5,722), New Jersey (-4,818), and Kentucky (-4,049).