U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Rise to Three-Month High

In the week ending January 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 286,000, an increase of 55,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 1,000 from 230,000 to 231,000. The 4-week moving average was 231,000, an increase of 20,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 250 from 210,750 to 211,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending January 8, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 8 was 1,635,000, an increase of 84,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 8,000 from 1,559,000 to 1,551,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,664,250, a decrease of 55,250 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since April 27, 2019 when it was 1,663,500. The previous week’s average was revised down by 2,000 from 1,721,500 to 1,719,500.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 337,417 in the week ending January 15, a decrease of 83,418 (or -19.8 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 138,773 (or -33.0 percent) from the previous week. There were 937,313 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.5 percent during the week ending January 8, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 2,075,750, an increase of 26,126 (or 1.3 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 57,330 (or -2.8 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 3.9 percent and the volume was 5,479,170.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending January 1 was 2,128,752, an increase of 180,114 from the previous week. There were 16,946,982 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.
During the week ending January 1, Extended Benefits were available in the following 2 states: New Jersey, and New Mexico.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,479 in the week ending January 8, an increase of 779 from the prior week. There were 458 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 119 from the preceding week.

There were 10,599 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending January 1, an increase of 980 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 4,748, an increase of 197 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending January 1 were in Alaska (3.1), Minnesota (2.8), Kentucky (2.7), New Jersey (2.6), New York (2.6), Rhode Island (2.5), California (2.4), Connecticut (2.4), Massachusetts (2.3), and Oregon (2.3).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 8 were in California (+11,295), New York (+10,639), Texas (+10,437), Kentucky (+8,476), and Missouri (+7,768), while the largest decreases were in Massachusetts (-2,079), Connecticut (-1,437), Michigan (-1,158), New Hampshire (-424), and Rhode Island (-424).