Initial Claims See Unusual Post-Pandemic Increase
(Chart courtesy U.S. Department of Labor.)
Initial claims for unemployment insurance, which for the most part have declined steadily since the U.S. economy stabilized late last year, posted an unusual 20,000 increase last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
For the week ending September 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims rose to 332,000, an increase of 20,000 from the previous week, which revised up by 2,000 from 310,000 to 312,000. The four-week moving average fell to 335,750, a decrease of 4,250 from the previous week’s revised average to the lowest level since March 14, 2020, when it was 225,500.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 1.9 percent for the week ending September 4, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the previous week’s revised rate, which revised up by 0.1 from 2.0 to 2.1 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending September 4 fell to 2,665,000, a decrease of 187,000 from the previous week to the lowest level since March 14, 2020, when it was 1,770,000. The previous week’s level was revised up 69,000
from 2,783,000 to 2,852,000. The four-week moving average fell to 2,807,500, a decrease of 50,000 from the previous week’s revised average to the lowest level e since March 21, 2020 (2,071,750).
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 262,619 in the week ending September 11, a decrease of 23,331 (8.2 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 43,520 (15.2 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 785,842 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending September 11, 45 states reported 28,456 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 1.7 percent during the week ending September 4, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 2,328,822, a decrease of 339,821 (12.7 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 153,177 (5.7 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 8.5 percent and the volume was 12,407,776.
The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending August 28 rose to 12,106,727, an increase of 178,937 from the previous week. Labor reported 30,383,772 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.
