Initial Claims Down 6th Straight Week
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell for the sixth straight week, reaching the lowest level since before the coronavirus pandemic’s economic impact, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The report said for the week ending June 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 376,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 385,000. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020, when it was 256,000. The four-week moving average fell to 402,500, a decrease of 25,500 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 428,000; this is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020, when it was 225,500.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 2.5 percent for the week ending May 29, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 29 fell to 3,499,000, a decrease of 258,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 21, 2020, when it was 3,094,000. The previous week’s level revised down by 14,000 from 3,771,000 to 3,757,000. The four-week moving average fell to 3,651,250, a decrease of 35,250 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 28, 2020, when it was 3,611,750. The previous week’s average revised down by 1,250 from 3,687,750 to 3,686,500.
The report said the advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 367,117 in the week ending June 5, a decrease of 58,196 (13.7 percent) from the previous week. Seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 49,826 (11.7 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 1,556,548 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending June 5, 50 states reported 71,292 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 2.4 percent during the week ending May 29, a decrease of 0.1percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 3,315,550, a decrease of 174,537 (5.0 percent) from the preceding week. Seasonal factors had expected an increase of 83,748 (2.4 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 13.1 percent and the volume was 19,119,547.
The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending May 22 was 15,349,465, a decrease of 95,099 from the previous week. Labor reported 30,020,457 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.
