Weekly Jobless Claims Slightly Lower Even as Layoffs Continue

In the week ending September 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 837,000, a decrease of 36,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 3,000 from 870,000 to 873,000. The 4-week moving average was 867,250, a decrease of 11,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 750 from 878,250 to 879,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 8.1 percent for the week ending September 19, a decrease of 0.6 percentage point from the previous week’s revised rate. The previous week’s rate was revised up by 0.1 from 8.6 to 8.7 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending September 19 was 11,767,000, a decrease of 980,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 167,000 from 12,580,000 to 12,747,000. The 4-week moving average was 12,701,250, a decrease of 381,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 41,750 from 13,040,750 to 13,082,500.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 786,942 in the week ending September 26, a decrease of 40,263 (or -4.9 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 4,251 (or -0.5 percent) from the previous week. There were 172,968 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. In addition, for the week ending September 26, 52 states reported 650,120 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 7.8 percent during the week ending September 19, a decrease of 0.7 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 11,410,703, a decrease of 1,020,192 (or -8.2 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 40,431 (or -0.3 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.0 percent and the volume was1,383,346.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending September 12 was 26,529,810, an increase of 484,856 from the previous week. There were 1,423,884 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending September 12, Extended Benefits were available in the following 47 states: 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, 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, and Wisconsin.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,089 in the week ending September 19, an increase of 135 from the prior week. There were 829 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 35 from the preceding week.

There were 13,307 former Federal civilian employees claiming UIbenefits for the week ending September 12, an increase of 282 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 14,412, an increase of 889 from the prior week.

During the week ending Sep 12, 50 states reported 11,828,338 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 50 states reported 1,828,370 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending September 12 were in Hawaii (21.3), California (16.1), Nevada (14.7), New York (13.7), Puerto Rico (12.8), Louisiana (12.6), Georgia (12.2), the Virgin Islands (11.9), District of Columbia (11.2), and Connecticut (10.6).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending September 19 were in New York (+7,893), Georgia (+7,336), Massachusetts (+5,186), New Jersey (+5,038), and Oregon (+3,251), while the largest decreases were in Maryland (-2,197), Michigan (-2,169), Indiana (-1,543), Illinois (-1,408), and Louisiana (-1,340).