Weekly Jobless Claims Increase Again Following Record Rise of COVID-19 Cases

In the week ending December 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 885,000, an increase of 23,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 9,000 from 853,000 to 862,000. The 4-week moving average was 812,500, an increase of 34,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 2,250 from 776,000 to 778,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.8 percent for the week ending December 5, 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 December 5 was 5,508,000, a decrease of 273,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 24,000 from 5,757,000 to 5,781,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,726,250, a decrease of 215,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 6,000 from 5,935,750 to 5,941,750.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 935,138 in the week ending December 12, a decrease of 21,335 (or -2.2 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 44,737 (or -4.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 270,547 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. In addition, for the week ending December 12, 53 states reported 455,037 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.7 percent during the week ending December 5, a decrease of 0.3 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 5,492,701, a decrease of 312,357 (or -5.4 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 39,403 (or -0.7 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.2 percent and the volume was 1,728,066.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending November 28 was 20,646,779, an increase of 1,603,281 from the previous week.

There were 1,782,260 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019. During the week ending November 28, Extended Benefits were available in the following 27 states: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, and Washington.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,234 in the week ending December 5, an increase of 301 from the prior week. There were 821 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 196 from the preceding week.

There were 16,501 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending November 28,an increase of 2,713 from the previous week. Continued weeks claimed filed by newly discharged veterans totaled10,202, an increase of 1,059 from the prior week.

During the week ending November 28, 51 states reported 9,244,556 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 51 states reported 4,801,408 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending November 28 were in California (7.0), New Mexico (6.7), Alaska (6.6), Hawaii (6.5), Nevada (6.1), Illinois (5.6), Puerto Rico (5.6), Pennsylvania (5.5), Massachusetts (5.4), and the Virgin Islands (5.4).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending December 5 were in California (+48,341), Illinois (+33,485), Texas (+22,729), Pennsylvania (+16,955), and New York (+16,814), while the largest decreases were in Louisiana (-2,666), Kentucky (-1,151), New Mexico (-378), t he Virgin Islands (7), and North Dakota (96).