4.4 Million Jobless Claims Last Week

In the week ending April 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 4,427,000, a decrease of 810,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 8,000 from 5,245,000 to 5,237,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,786,500, an increase of 280,000 from the previous week’s revised average.

The previous week’s average was revised down by 2,000 from 5,508,500 to 5,506,500. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 11.0 percent for the week ending April 11, an increase of 2.8 percentage points from the previous week’s unrevised rate. This marks the highest level of the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate in the history of the seasonally adjusted series.The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 11 was 15,976,000, an increase of 4,064,000 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 64,000 from 11,976,000 to 11,912,000. The 4-week moving average was 9,598,250, an increase of 3,548,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 16,000 from 6,066,250 to 6,050,250.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 4,267,395 in the week ending April 18, a decrease of 697,173 (or -14.0 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 83,790 (or 1.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 211,762 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 11.3 percent during the week ending April 11, an increase of 2.7 percentage points from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 16,438,933, an increase of 3,978,614 (or 31.9 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 202,510 (or -1.6 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.2 percent and the volume was 1,703,576.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending April 4 was 12,506,993, an increase of 4,300,016 from the previous week. There were 1,757,864 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 4.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,844 in the week ending April 11, a decrease of 551 from the prior week. There were 1,821initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 223from the preceding week.

There were 11,562 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 4, an increase of 535 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 7,068, an increase of 727 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 4 were in Michigan (17.4), Rhode Island (15.0), Nevada (13.7), Georgia (13.6), Washington(13.2), New Hampshire (12.2), Minnesota (11.9), New York (11.9), Montana (11.7), and Ohio (11.6). The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 11 were in Colorado (+58,246), New York (+50,250), Missouri (+10,668), Florida (+10,534), and North Carolina (+2,733), while the largest decreases were in California(-263,342), Michigan (-166,347), New Jersey (-73,416), Georgia (-70,551), and Ohio (-66,874