Unemployment Continues Pressure on Economy with 1.3M Claims Last Week

In the week ending July 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claimswas 1,314,000, a decrease of 99,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 14,000 from 1,427,000 to 1,413,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,437,250, a decrease of 63,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 3,500 from 1,503,750 to 1,500,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment ratewas 12.4 percent for the week ending June 27, a decrease of 0.5 percentage point from the previous week’s revised rate. The previous week’s rate was revised down by 0.3 from 13.2 to 12.9 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemploymentduring the week ending June 27 was 18,062,000, a decrease of 698,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 530,000 from 19,290,000 to 18,760,000. The 4-week moving average was 19,085,500, a decrease of 636,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 132,500 from 19,854,000 to 19,721,500.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 1,399,699 in the week ending July 4, a decrease of 31,644 (or -2.2 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 73,475 (or 5.1 percent) from the previous week. There were 231,995 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. In addition, for the week ending July 4, 49 states reported 1,038,905 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 11.5 percent during the week ending June 27, a decrease of 0.5 percentagepoint from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 16,797,353, a decrease of 630,587 (or -3.6 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 18,760 (or 0.1 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.1 percent and the volume was 1,610,633.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending June 20 was 32,922,335, an increase of 1,410,788 from the previous week. There were 1,612,122 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending June 20, Extended Benefits were available in the following 50 states: Alabama, Alaska,Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Initial claims for UI benefit s filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,331 in the week ending June 27, a decrease of 268 from the prior week.

There were 1,021 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 175 from the preceding week. There were 14,482 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending June 20, a decrease of 163 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 13,107, an increase of 470 from the prior week.

During the week ending June 20, 47 states reported 14,363,143 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 41 states reported 850,461 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending June 20 were in Puerto Rico (25.4), Nevada (20.8), Hawaii (20.7), t he Virgin Islands (17.5), New York (17.1), California (16.7), Louisiana (16.2), Massachusetts (15.6), Georgia (15.1), and Connecticut (15.0).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending June 27 were in Michigan (+18,668), Indiana (+15,496), Texas (+7,046), Virginia (+6,662), and Kentucky (+5,794), while the largest decreases were in Oklahoma (-40,208), Florida (-11,313), Maryland (-9,926), Georgia (-8,240), and California (-7,132).