Weekly Jobless Claims Up as Pandemic Furthers Economic Downturn

In the week ending September 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 870,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 6,000 from 860,000 to 866,000. The 4-week moving average was 878,250, a decrease of 35,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,500 from 912,000 to 913,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 8.6 percent for the week ending September 12, a decrease of 0.1 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 12 was 12,580,000, a decrease of 167,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 119,000 from 12,628,000 to 12,747,000. The 4-week moving average was 13,040,750, a decrease of 478,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 29,750 from 13,489,000 to 13,518,750.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 824,542 in the week ending September 19, an increase of 28,527 (or 3.6 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 23,891 (or 3.0 percent) from the previous week. There were 175,394 initial claims in the comparable weekin 2019. In addition, for the week ending September 19, 52 states reported 630,080 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 8.4 percent during the week ending September 12, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 12,264,351, a decrease of 176,510 (or -1.4 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 9,932 (or -0.1 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.0 percent and the volume was 1,399,601.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending September 5 was 26,044,952, a decrease of 3,723,513 from the previous week. There were 1,488,601 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending September5, Extended Benefits were available in the following 49states: 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,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, and Wisconsin.

Initial claims for UI benefit s filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 954 in the week ending September 12, an increase of 1 from the prior week.

There were 794 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 91 from the preceding week. There were 13,025 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending September 5, a decrease of 519 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 13,523, a decrease of 454 from the prior week.

During the week ending September 5, 50 states reported 11,510,888 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 49 states reported 1,631,645 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending September 5 were in Hawaii (19.8), California (15.7), Nevada (14.9), Puerto Rico (14.1), New York (13.7), Louisiana (13.2), District of Columbia (11.3), Georgia (11.3), the Virgin Islands (11.3), and Massachusetts (10.5).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending September 12 were in Indiana (+1,990), Kansas (+1,928), Illinois (+1,906), and Michigan (+1,727), while the largest decreases were in California (-17,400), Texas (-15,905), Louisiana (-8,384), Georgia (-8,235), and Washington (-3,291).