Initial Claims Down Another 13,000

Initial claims for unemployment insurance continued to drop, the Labor Department reported last week, falling to levels last seen in March 2020.

For the week ending April 24, Labor reported the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 553,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week’s level, which revised up by 19,000, from 547,000 to 566,000. The four-week moving average fell to 611,750, a decrease of 44,000 from the previous week’s revised average to the lowest level since March 14, 2020, when it was 225,500.

The report said the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 2.6 percent for the week ending April 17. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 17 rose to 3,660,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week’s level, which revised down by 23,000 from 3,674,000 to 3,651,000. The four-week moving average fell to 3,684,000, a decrease of 23,250 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 report said the advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 575,350 in the week ending April 24, a decrease of 9,486 (or -1.6 percent) from the previous week. Seasonal factors had expected an increase of 2,706 (or 0.5 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 3,468,261 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending April 24, 53 states reported 121,749 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The report said the advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 2.7 percent during the week ending April 17, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 3,790,527, a decrease of 49,902 (or -1.3 percent) from the preceding week. Seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 58,556 (or -1.5 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 12.2 percent and the volume was 17,770,222.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending April 10 was 16,559,276, a decrease of 845,874 from the previous week. Labor reported 16,319,176 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.