3.17 Million Jobless Claims Last Week, Adding to Wave of Coronavirus Layoffs

U.S. Department of Labor

In the week ending May 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 3,169,000, a decrease of 677,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 7,000 from 3,839,000 to 3,846,000.

The 4-week moving average was 4,173,500, a decrease of 861,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,750 from 5,033,250 to 5,035,000. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 15.5 percent for the week ending April 25, an increase of 3.1 percentage points from the previous week’s unrevised rate.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 25 was 22,647,000, an increase of 4,636,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 19,000 from 17,992,000 to 18,011,000. The 4-week moving average was 17,097,750, an increase of 3,800,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 5,000 from 13,292,500 to 13,297,500.

UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 2,849,090 in the week ending May 2, a decrease of 646,613 (or -18.5 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 38,457 (or -1.1 percent) from  week. There were 204,033 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019.
In addition, in the23 states reporting data for the week ending May 2, there were 583,699initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 15.1 percent during the week ending April 25, an increase of 2.9 percentage points from the prior week.
The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 22,035,753, an increase of 4,240,777 (or 23.8 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 270,167 (or -1.5 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.1 percent and the volume was 1,633,529. The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending April 18 was 18,919,371, an increase of 2,416,289from the previous week.
There were 1,673,740 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019. No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending April 18. Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,908 in the week ending April 25, a decrease of 233 from the prior week. There were 1,264 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 251 from the preceding week.

There were 13,758 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 18, an increase of 423 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 8,670, an increase of 468 from the prior week. During the week ending April18, eleven states reported 994,850individuals claiming

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and seven states reported 52,305individuals claiming

Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 18 were in Vermont (25.2), West Virginia (21.9), Michigan (21.7), Rhode Island (20.4), Nevada (19.9), Connecticut (18.7), Puerto Rico (17.9), Georgia (17.3), New York (17.2), and Washington (17.1). The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 25 were in Washington (+56,030), Georgia (+19,562), New York (+14,229), Oregon (+12,091), and Alabama (+8,534), while the largest decreases were in California (-203,017), Florida (-73,567), Connecticut (-69,767), New Jersey (-68,173), and Pennsylvania (-66,698).

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