In the week ending December 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 205,000, unchanged from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 1,000 from 206,000 to 205,000. The 4-week moving average was 206,250, an increase of 2,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 250 from 203,750 to 203,500.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.4 percent for the week ending December 11, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 11 was 1,859,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 14, 2020 when it was 1,770,000. The previous week’s level was revised up 22,000 from 1,845,000 to 1,867,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,919,750, a decrease of 49,000 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 1,730,750. The previous week’s average was revised up by 5,500 from 1,963,250 to 1,968,750.
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 254,006 in the week ending December 18, a decrease of 11,686 (or -4.4 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 11,745 (or -4.4 percent) from the previous week. There were 854,497 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending December 18, 33 states reported 1,550 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.4 percent during the week ending December 11, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 1,830,635, an increase of 96,023 (or 5.5 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 104,088 (or 6.0 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 3.7 percent and the volume was 5,415,945.
The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending December 4 was 2,137,980, a decrease of 320,452 from the previous week. There were 21,033,848 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.
During the week ending December 4, Extended Benefits were available in the following 4 states: Alaska, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New Mexico.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 969 in the week ending December 11, a decrease of 123 from the prior week. There were 414 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 74 from the preceding week.
There were 9,824 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending December 4, an increase of 38 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 4,718, a decrease of 583 from the prior week.
During the week ending December 4, 41 states reported 133,763 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 43 states reported 116,434 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending December 4 were in Alaska (3.1), Virgin Islands (2.9), Puerto Rico (2.5), California (2.4), New Jersey (2.4), District of Columbia (2.2), Minnesota (2.2), Hawaii (1.9), Illinois (1.8), and Massachusetts (1.8).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending December 11 were in Missouri (+7,344), Kentucky (+3,600), Illinois (+1,171), Nebraska (+1,032), and Tennessee (+705), while the largest decreases were in New York (-8,157), North Carolina (-4,320), Texas (-4,086), Wisconsin (-3,214), and Oregon (-1,982).
