U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Trend Down, First Time in Four Weeks

In the week ending January 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 260,000, a decrease of 30,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 4,000 from 286,000 to 290,000. The 4-week moving average was 247,000, an increase of 15,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,000 from 231,000 to 232,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending January 15, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 15 was 1,675,000, an increase of 51,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 11,000 from 1,635,000 to 1,624,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,651,750, a decrease of 10,750 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since August 18, 1973 when it was 1,646,750. The previous week’s average was revised down by 1,750 from 1,664,250 to 1,662,500.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 267,573 in the week ending January 22, a decrease of 73,357 (or -21.5 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 43,282 (or -12.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 840,705 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.5 percent during the week ending January 15, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 2,004,640, a decrease of 60,303 (or -2.9 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 111,254 (or -5.4 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 3.7 percent and the volume was 5,218,474.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending January 8 was 2,140,986, an increase of 8,444 from the previous week. There were 19,048,138 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.

During the week ending January 8, 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 939 in the week ending January 15, a decrease of 539 from the prior week. There were 439 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 19 from the preceding week.

There were 10,130 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending January 8, a decrease of 531 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 5,046, an increase of 281 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending January 8 were in Alaska (3.1), New Jersey (2.7), California (2.6), Minnesota (2.6), Illinois (2.5), Rhode Island (2.5), New York (2.4), Kentucky (2.3), Massachusetts (2.3), Connecticut (2.1), and Puerto Rico (2.1).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 15 were in California (+805), Kentucky (+527), Puerto Rico (+473), Rhode Island (+464), and Virginia (+406), while the largest decreases were in New York (-13,854), Missouri (-7,098), Washington (-6,016), Michigan (-5,555), and Texas (-4,773).