U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Remain High at 881,000

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending August 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 881,000, a decrease of 130,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 5,000 from 1,006,000 to 1,011,000. The 4-week moving average was 991,750, a decrease of 77,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,250 from 1,068,000 to 1,069,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 9.1 percent for the week ending August 22, a decrease of 0.8 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 22 was 13,254,000, a decrease of 1,238,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 43,000 from 14,535,000 to 14,492,000. The 4-week moving average was 14,496,250, a decrease of 709,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 10,500 from 15,215,750 to 15,205,250.

2UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 833,352 in the week ending August 29, an increase of 7,591 (or 0.9 percent) from the previous week. There were 179,516 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. In addition, for the week ending August 29, 51 states reported 759,482 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 9.0 percent during the week ending August 22, a decrease of 0.5 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 13,104,366, a decrease of 764,713 (or -5.5 percent) from the preceding week. A year earlier the rate was 1.1 percent and the volume was 1,566,934.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending August 15 was 29,224,546, an increase of 2,195,835 from the previous week. There were 1,639,622 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending August 15, Extended Benefits were available in the following 52 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,051 in the week ending August 22, a decrease of 94 from the prior week. There were 802 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 228 from the preceding week.

There were 14,165 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending August 15, an increase of 197 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 13,684, an increase of 118 from the prior week.

During the week ending Aug 15, 49 states reported 13,570,327 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 49 states reported 1,393,314 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending August 15 were in Hawaii (18.6), Nevada (16.4), California (16.3), Puerto Rico (16.1), New York (15.2), Connecticut (14.0), Louisiana (13.3), Georgia (12.6), the Virgin Islands (11.8), District of Columbia (11.7), and Massachusetts (11.7).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending August 22 were in California (+6,562), Illinois (+3,856), Pennsylvania (+1,926), Kansas (+1,061), and Rhode Island (+503), while the largest decreases were in Florida (-21,127), Texas (-9,248), New Jersey (-5,235), Virginia (-3,715), and North Carolina(-3,708).