U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Remain Highest since the Great Depression

In the week ending February 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 745,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 6,000 from 730,000 to 736,000. The 4-week moving average was 790,750, a decrease of 16,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 250 from 807,750 to 807,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent for the week ending February 20, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 20 was 4,295,000, a decrease of 124,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 4,419,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,448,000, a decrease of 99,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 4,547,000.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 748,078 in the week ending February 27, an increase of 31,519 (or 4.4 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 22,358 (or 3.1 percent) from the previous week. There were 216,982 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending February 27, 53 states reported 436,696 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.4 percent during the week ending February 20, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 4,806,269, a decrease of 22,355 (or -0.5 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 101,951 (or 2.1 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.4 percent and the volume was 2,105,457.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending February 13 was 18,026,537, a decrease of 1,018,763 from the previous week. There were 2,092,483 weekly claims filed for benefits inall programs in the comparable week in 2020.

During the week ending February 13, Extended Benefits were available in the following 19 states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Texas, the Virgin Islands, and Washington.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,206 in the week ending February 20, a decrease of 181 from the prior week. There were 619 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 83 from the preceding week.

There were 19,431 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending February 13, an increase of 607 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 8,686, a decrease of 383 from the prior week.

During the week ending February 13, 51 states reported 7,328,311 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 51 states reported 4,466,916 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending February 13 were in Pennsylvania (6.3), Alaska (5.7), Nevada (5.4), Rhode Island (5.1), Connecticut (4.9), New York (4.9), the Virgin Islands (4.9), California (4.7), Illinois (4.7), and New Mexico (4.6).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending February 20 were in Illinois (+6,014), Missouri (+5,624), Tennessee (+3,987), Mississippi (+3,266), and Colorado (+2,842), while the largest decreases were in California (-49,138), Ohio (-45,189), New York (-9,117), Idaho (-5,111), and Michigan (-3,942).