Weekly Jobless Claims Up by more than 1 Million, 17th Straight Week

In the week ending July 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 1,300,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 4,000 from 1,314,000 to 1,310,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,375,000, a decrease of 60,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 2,250 from 1,437,250 to 1,435,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 11.9 percent for the week ending July 4, a decrease of 0.3 percentage point from the previous week’s revised rate. The previous week’s rate was revised down by 0.2 from 12.4 to 12.2 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 4 was 17,338,000, a decrease of 422,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 302,000 from 18,062,000 to 17,760,000. The 4-week moving average was 18,272,250, a decrease of 737,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 75,500 from 19,085,500 to 19,010,000.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 1,503,892 in the week ending July 11, an increase of 108,811 (or 7.8 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 120,514 (or 8.6 percent) from the previous week. There were 243,621 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. In addition, for the week ending July 11, 47 states reported 928,488 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 11.9 percent during the week ending July 4, an increase of 0.6 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 17,355,176, an increase of 838,307 (or 5.1 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 1,260,965 (or 7.6 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.2 percent and the volume was 1,702,745.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending June 27 was 32,003,330, a decrease of 433,005 from the previous week. There were 1,632,689 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

During the week ending June 27, Extended Benefits were available in the following 51 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, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Initial claims for UI benefit s filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,323 in the week ending July 4, a decrease of 8 from the prior week. There were 1,077 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 56 from the preceding week.

During the week ending June 27, 48 states reported 14,282,999 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 44 states reported 936,431 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending June 27 were in Puerto Rico (26.8), Nevada (20.9), Hawaii (19.9), New York (17.0), Louisiana (16.6), California (15.9), Massachusetts (15.6), Connecticut (15.2), Georgia (14.1), and Rhode Island (14.0).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending July 4 were in Texas (+20,506), New Jersey (+19,410), Maryland (+10,568), Louisiana (+9,441), and New York (+3,906), while the largest decreases were in Indiana (-22,725), Florida (-17,429), California (-12,571), Georgia (-12,325), and Oklahoma (-8,982).