U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Rise for Second Consecutive Week

U.S. Department of Labor

In the week ending September 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 362,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 351,000. The 4-week moving average was 340,000, an increase of 4,250 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 335,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent for the week ending September 18, 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 September 18 was 2,802,000, a decrease of 18,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 25,000 from 2,845,000 to 2,820,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,797,250, a decrease of 750 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 down by 6,000 from 2,804,000 to 2,798,000.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 298,255 in the week ending September 25, a decrease of 8,326 (or -2.7 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 18,940 (or -6.2 percent) from the previous week. There were 732,912 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending September 25, 39 states reported 16,752 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent during the week ending September 18, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 2,460,965, a decrease of 48,954 (or -2.0 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 30,979 (or -1.2 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 7.6 percent and the volume was 11,037,718.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending September 11 was 5,027,581, a decrease of 6,222,725 from the previous week. There were 27,205,974 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.
During the week ending September 11, Extended Benefits were available in the following 9 states: Alaska, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Texas.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 758 in the week ending September 18, an increase of 22 from the prior week. There were 454 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 2 from the preceding week.

There were 8,481 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending September 11, an increase of 665 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 5,651, an increase of 194 from the prior week.

During the week ending September 11, 44 states reported 1,059,248 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 46 states reported 991,813 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending September 11 were in Puerto Rico (4.7), California (3.4), District of Columbia (3.2), Oregon (3.2), Alaska (3.1), Nevada (3.1), New Jersey (3.1), the Virgin Islands (3.1), Hawaii (2.7), and Illinois (2.7).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending September 18 were in California (+17,218), Virginia (+12,140), Ohio (+4,147), Oregon (+3,413), and Maryland (+2,452), while the largest decreases were in Louisiana
(-6,935), New York (-2,275), Missouri (-1,568), Oklahoma (-1,264), and New Mexico (-1,055).

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