3.8 Million Jobless Claims Last Week for a Six-Week Total of over 30 Million

In the week ending April 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 3,839,000, a decrease of 603,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 15,000 from 4,427,000 to 4,442,000. The 4-week moving average was5,033,250, a decrease of 757,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 3,750 from 5,786,500 to 5,790,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 12.4 percent for the week ending April 18, an increase of 1.5 percentage points from the previous week’s revised rate. This marks the highest level of the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate in the history of the seasonally adjusted series. The previous week’s rate was revised down by 0.1 from 11.0 to 10.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 18 was 17,992,000, an increase of 2,174,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This marks the highest level of seasonally adjusted insured unemployment in the history of the seasonally adjusted series. The previous week’s level was revised down by 158,000 from 15,976,000 to 15,818,000. The 4-week moving average was 13,292,500, an increase of 3,733,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 39,000 from 9,598,250 to 9,559,250.

Unadjusted Data

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 3,489,261 in the week ending April 25, a decrease of 792,387 (or -18.5 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 244,285 (or -5.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 204,755 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 12.2 percent during the week ending April 18, an increase of 1.0 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 17,776,006, an increase of 1,498,784 (or 9.2 percent) from the preceding week.

The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 648,558 (or -4.0 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.1 percent and the volume was 1,647,874.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending April 11 was 16,339,149, an increase of 3,830,654 from the previous week.

There were 1,731,181 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 11.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,141 in the week ending April 18, a decrease of 703 from the prior week.

There were 1,515 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 306 from the preceding week.

There were 13,335 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 11, an increase of 1,639 from the previous week.

Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 8,202, an increase of 1,105 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 11 were in Michigan (21.8), Vermont (21.2), Connecticut (18.5), Pennsylvania (18.5), Nevada (16.8), Rhode Island (16.7), Washington (16.0), Alaska (15.6), New York (14.4), and West Virginia (14.4).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 18 were in Florida (+326,251), Connecticut (+68,758), West Virginia (+31,811), Louisiana (+12,270), and Texas (+6,504), while the largest decreases were in New York (-189,517), California (-127,112), Michigan (-85,500), Georgia (-72,578), and Washington (-60,980).