U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Increase amid Coronavirus Surge

In the week ending November 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 742,000, an increase of 31,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 2,000 from 709,000 to 711,000. The 4-week moving average was 742,000, a decrease of 13,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 500 from 755,250 to 755,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.3 percent for the week ending November 7, 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 November 7 was 6,372,000, a decrease of 429,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 15,000 from 6,786,000 to 6,801,000. The 4-week moving average was 7,054,500, a decrease of 525,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 3,750 from 7,575,750 to 7,579,500.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 743,460 in the week ending November 14, an increase of 18,344 (or 2.5 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 13,302 (or -1.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 227,892 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. In addition, for the week ending November 14, 52 states reported 320,237 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.2 percent during the week ending November 7, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 6,081,402, a decrease of 419,670 (or -6.5 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 9,438 (or 0.1 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.0 percent and the volume was 1,460,773.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending October 31 was 20,319,615, a decrease of 841,245 from the previous week. There were 1,476,521 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending October 31, Extended Benefits were available in the following 40 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana,Kentucky, Louisiana,Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,555 in the week ending November 7, a decrease of 295 from the prior week.

There were 899 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 70 from the preceding week. There were 13,540 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending October 31, an increase of 1,183 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 11,905, a decrease of 271 from the prior week.

During the week ending October 31, 51 states reported 8,681,647 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 51 states reported 4,376,847 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending October 31 were in California (8.3), Hawaii (8.3), New Mexico (8.0), Nevada (7.6), Georgia (6.5), Pennsylvania (6.4), Alaska (6.2), Massachusetts (6.2), District of Columbia (6.0), and Illinois (5.7).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending November 7 were in Washington (+7,683), California (+5,293), Massachusetts (+3,383), Alabama (+1,704), and Louisiana (+1,626), while the largest decreases were in Georgia (-13,426), Illinois (-6,357), Kentucky (-4,830), Texas (-3,934), and New Jersey (-3,725).