U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Remain Steady, Little Sign of Worsening

In the week ending November 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 268,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000. The previous week’s level was revised up by 2,000 from 267,000 to 269,000. The 4-week moving average was 272,750, a decrease of 5,750 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 225,500. The previous week’s average was revised up by 500 from 278,000 to 278,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.5 percent for the week ending November 6, 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 November 6 was 2,080,000, a decrease of 129,000 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 49,000 from 2,160,000 to 2,209,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,157,250, a decrease of 100,000 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 21, 2020 when it was 2,071,750. The previous week’s average was revised up by 12,250 from 2,245,000 to 2,257,250.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 238,850 in the week ending November 13, a decrease of 18,183 (or -7.1 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 17,068 (or -6.6 percent) from the previous week. There were 709,426 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending November 13, 36 states reported 1,387 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.3 percent during the week ending November 6, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 1,754,190, a decrease of 198,717 (or -10.2 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 70,053 (or -3.6 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 4.1 percent and the volume was 6,061,961.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending October 30 was 3,184,657, an increase of 618,804 from the previous week. There were 20,815,977 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

During the week ending October 30, 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 968 in the week ending November 6, a decrease of 122 from the prior week. There were 435 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 20 from the preceding week.

There were 8,023 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending October 30, an increase of 96 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 5,001, a decrease of 46 from the prior week.
During the week ending October 30, 41 states reported 791,060 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 43 states reported 272,974 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending October 30 were in District of Columbia (3.5), Puerto Rico (3.5), California (3.0), Alaska (2.5), Hawaii (2.5), Illinois (2.5), New Jersey (2.4), Nevada (2.2), the Virgin Islands (2.2), and Oregon (1.9).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending November 6 were in Kentucky (+6,716), Ohio (+3,846), Tennessee (+2,411), Illinois (+1,893), and Michigan (+1,564), while the largest decreases were in California (-4,222), District of Columbia (-1,794), and Louisiana (-1,028).