U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Fall to Just Above 800,000

In the week ending December 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 803,000, a decrease of 89,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 7,000 from 885,000 to 892,000. The 4-week moving average was 818,250, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,750 from 812,500 to 814,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6 percent for the week ending December 12, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 12 was 5,337,000, a decrease of 170,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 1,000 from 5,508,000 to 5,507,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,538,000, a decrease of 188,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 250 from 5,726,250 to 5,726,000.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 869,398 in the week ending December 19, a decrease of 72,512 (or -7.7 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 16,988 (or 1.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 287,243 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. In addition, for the week ending December 19, 53 states reported 397,511 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.7 percent during the week ending December 12, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 5,444,281, a decrease of 47,552 (or -0.9 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 122,584 (or 2.2 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.2 percent and the volume was 1,798,885.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending December 5 was 20,363,675, a decrease of 283,170 from the previous week. There were 1,757,802 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending December5, Extended Benefits were available in the following 24states: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan,Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Texas, the Virgin Islands, and Washington.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,362 in the week ending December 12, an increase of 128 from the prior week. There were 786 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 35 from the preceding week.

There were 17,269 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending December 5, an increase of 768 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 9,501, a decrease of 701 from the prior week.

During the week ending December 5, 51 states reported 9,271,112 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 51 states reported 4,793,230 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending December 5 were in the Virgin Islands (8.3), Alaska (6.6), California (6.6), New Mexico (6.5), Nevada (6.1), Hawaii (5.6), Illinois (5.6), Pennsylvania (5.4), Puerto Rico (5.2), and Kansas (5.0).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending December 12 were in Illinois (+30,743), California (+25,664), Kansas (+5,637), Delaware (+2,355), and Ohio (+1,996), while the largest decreases were in Georgia (-9,301), Minnesota (-9,158), Texas (-8,876), Indiana (-7,920), and Wisconsin (-7,038).