U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Lowest since Pandemic Began

In the week ending March 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 684,000, a decrease of 97,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 11,000 from 770,000 to 781,000. The 4-week moving average was 736,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 2,750 from 746,250 to 749,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.7 percent for the week ending March 13, 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 March 13 was 3,870,000, a decrease of 264,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 10,000 from 4,124,000 to 4,134,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,120,750, a decrease of 137,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 2,500 from 4,255,500 to 4,258,000.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 656,789 in the week ending March 20, a decrease of 100,412 (or -13.3 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 3,865 (or -0.5 percent) from the previous week. There were 2,920,162 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending March 20, 51 states reported 241,745 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent during the week ending March 13, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 4,217,259, a decrease of 278,573 (or -6.2 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 14,896 (or -0.3 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.4 percent and the volume was 2,074,782.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending March 6 was 18,952,795, an increase of 733,862 from the previous week. There were 2,006,387 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

During the week ending March 6, Extended Benefits were availablein the following 16 states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and the Virgin Islands.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,248 in the week ending March 13, a decrease of 38 from the prior week. There were 737 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 38 from the preceding week.

There were 19,074 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending March 6, a decrease of 573 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 8,638, an increase of 366 from the prior week.

During the week ending March 6, 51 states reported 7,735,491 continued weeklyclaims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 51 states reported 5,551,215 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 6 were in Pennsylvania (5.8), the Virgin Islands (5.6), Nevada (5.4), Alaska (5.3), New York (4.9), Connecticut (4.8), Illinois (4.3), Rhode Island (4.3), Massachusetts (4.1), and New Mexico (4.1).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 13 were in Texas (+24,492), Illinois (+13,692), Indiana (+4,728), Alabama (+2,914), and Massachusetts (+2,560), while the largest decreases were in Ohio (-12,987), West Virginia (-3,321), South Carolina (-2,711), Mississippi (-2,117), and New York (-935).