Jobless Claims Surge to Highest Weekly Total Since August

U.S. Department of Labor

In the week ending January 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 965,000, an increase of 181,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 3,000 from 787,000 to 784,000. The 4-week moving average was 834,250, an increase of 18,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 2,750 from 818,750 to 816,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.7 percent for the week ending January 2, an increase of 0.2 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 2 was 5,271,000, an increase of 199,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 5,072,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,215,750, a decrease of 59,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 5,274,750.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 1,151,015 in the week ending January 9, an increase of 231,335 (or 25.2 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 131,769 (or 14.3 percent) from the previous week. There were 338,550 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending January 9, 45 states reported 284,470 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.1 percent during the week ending January 2, an increase of 0.4 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 5,856,230, an increase of 474,180 (or 8.8 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 274,958 (or 5.1 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.5 percent and the volume was 2,249,123.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending December 26 was 18,406,940, a decrease of 744,511 from the previous week. There were 2,176,360 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending December 26, Extended Benefits were available in the following 23 states: Alaska, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Texas, the Virgin Islands, and Washington.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,008 in the week ending January 2, an increase of 236 from the prior week. There were 1,060 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 325 from the preceding week.

There were 16,873 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending December 26, an increase of 101 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 9,500, an increase of 406 from the prior week.

During the week ending December 26, 49 states reported 7,442,888 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 50 states reported 4,166,261 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending December 26 were in Pennsylvania (6.6), Alaska (6.5), Kansas (6.4), New Mexico (5.9), Illinois (5.6), Washington (5.6), Nevada (5.5), t he Virgin Islands (5.3), Minnesota (5.2), and California (5.0).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 2 were in Louisiana (+17,119), Kansas (+15,400), Texas (+14,541), Georgia (+12,498), and Washington (+10,950), while the largest decreases were in Illinois (-65,099), California (-7,743), Maryland (-2,088), and Florida (-1,836).

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