Weekly Jobless Claims Again Reach More Than 1 Million, Prolonging Economic Concerns

In the week ending August 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 1,006,000, a decrease of 98,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 2,000 from 1,106,000 to 1,104,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,068,000, a decrease of 107,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 500 from 1,175,750 to 1,175,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 9.9 percent for the week ending August 15, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the previous week’s revised rate. The previous week’s rate was revised down by 0.1 from 10.2 to 10.1 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 15 was 14,535,000, a decrease of 223,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 86,000 from 14,844,000 to 14,758,000. The 4-week moving average was 15,215,750, a decrease of 604,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 21,500 from 15,841,250 to 15,819,750.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 821,591 in the week ending August 22, a decrease of 67,958 (or -7.6 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 12,140 (or 1.4 percent) from the previous week. There were 176,867 initial claims in the comparable week in2019. In addition, for the week ending August 22, 51 states reported 607,806 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 9.5 percent during the week ending August 15, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 13,909,872, a decrease of 272,941 (or -1.9 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 59,034 (or -0.4 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.1 percent and the volume was 1,615,803.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending August 8 was 27,017,232, a decrease of 1,042,323 from the previous week. There were 1,644,315 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending August 8, Extended Benefits were available in the following 52 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,145 in the week ending August 15, a decrease of 32 from the prior week. There were 1,029 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 2 from the preceding week.

There were 13,968 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending August 8, a decrease of 646 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 13,566, a decrease of 346 from the prior week.

During the week ending August8, 49 states reported 10,972,770 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 49 states reported 1,407,802 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending August 8 were in Hawaii (19.8), Puerto Rico (19.2), Nevada (17.3), California (16.1), New York (15.4), Connecticut (13.6), Louisiana (13.5), the Virgin Islands (12.8), Georgia (12.6), and Massachusetts (12.2).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending August 15 were in New Jersey (+11,580), Florida (+11,190), New York (+9,879), Texas (+9,096), and Tennessee (+3,793), while the largest decreases were in California (-12,155), Nevada (-6,817), Georgia (-4,236), Puerto Rico (-2,864), and Pennsylvania (-1,510).