Weekly Jobless Claims Fell Last Week, Layoffs Continue at Extraordinarily High Levels

In the week ending September 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 860,000, a decrease of 33,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 9,000 from 884,000 to 893,000. The 4-week moving average was 912,000, a decrease of 61,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 2,250 from 970,750 to 973,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 8.6 percent for the week ending September 5, a decrease of 0.7 percentage point from the previous week’s revised rate. The previous week’s rate was revised up by 0.1 from 9.2 to 9.3 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending September 5 was 12,628,000, a decrease of 916,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 159,000 from 13,385,000 to 13,544,000. The 4-week moving average was 13,489,000, a decrease of 532,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 39,750 from 13,982,000 to 14,021,750.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 790,021 in the week ending September 12, a decrease of 75,974 (or -8.8 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 42,594 (or -4.9 percent) from the previous week. There were 173,134 initial claims in the comparable weekin 2019. In addition, for the week ending September 12, 52 states reported 658,737 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 8.4 percent during the week ending September 5, a decrease of 0.7percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 12,321,395, a decrease of 1,034,052 (or -7.7 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 117,820 (or -0.9 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.0 percent and the volume was 1,465,554.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending August 29 was 29,768,326, an increase of 98,456 from the previous week. There were 1,498,917 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending August 29, Extended Benefits were available in the following 51states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii,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, Utah, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 953 in the week ending September 5, a decrease of 85 from the prior week. There were 885 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 29 from the preceding week.

There were 13,544 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefit s for the week ending August 29, a decrease of 97 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 13,977, an increase of 964 from the prior week.

During the week ending August 29, 50 states reported 14,467,064 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 49 states reported 1,527,166 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending August 29 were in Hawaii (20.3), California (17.3), Nevada (15.6), New York (15.0), Puerto Rico (14.1), Louisiana (13.6), Connecticut (11.9), Georgia (11.9), District of Columbia (11.3), and Massachusetts (11.0).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending September 5 were in California (+23,841), Texas (+8,618), Louisiana (+8,375), New Jersey (+2,402), and Washington (+2,173), while the largest decreases were in Kentucky (-7,219), Florida (-5,334), Pennsylvania (-2,257), Kansas (-1,915), and Michigan (-994).