Weekly Jobless Rates Hold Steady at Record Numbers, Slowing of Economy Imminent

In the week ending October 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 751,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 7,000 from 751,000 to 758,000. The 4-week moving average was 787,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 3,250 from 787,750 to 791,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 5.0 percent for the week ending October 24, a decrease of 0.3 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending October 24 was 7,285,000, a decrease of 538,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 67,000 from 7,756,000 to 7,823,000. The 4-week moving average was 8,244,500, a decrease of 827,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 18,500 from 9,053,250 to 9,071,750.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 738,166 in the week ending October 31, a decrease of 543 (or -0.1 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 6,099 (or 0.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 205,625 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. In addition, for the week ending October 31, 52 states reported 362,883 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.7 percent during the week ending October 24, a decrease of 0.4 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 6,951,731, a decrease of 537,898 (or -7.2 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 242 (or -0.003 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.0 percent and the volume was 1,423,681.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending October 17 was 21,508,662, a decrease of 1,152,854 from the previous week. There were 1,444,923 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending October 17, Extended Benefits were available in the following 43 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, 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 2,171 in the week ending October 24, an increase of 436 from the prior week.

There were 907 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 58 from the preceding week. There were 12,137 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending October 17, an increase of 368 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 12,417, a decrease of 658 from the prior week.

During the week ending Oct 17, 51 states reported 9,332,610 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 50 states reported 3,961,060 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending October 17 were in Hawaii (11.3), the Virgin Islands (9.6), California (9.5), Nevada (9.2), New Mexico (9.0), Georgia (7.6), Puerto Rico (7.6), District of Columbia (7.1), Massachusetts (6.9), and Louisiana (6.8).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending October 24 were in Illinois(+6,190), Michigan (+5,442), Massachusetts (+2,483), Minnesota (+1,848), and Connecticut (+1,621), while the largest decreases were in Texas (-10,113), California (-7,700), Florida (-6,528), New York (-3,291), and Louisiana (-3,096).