Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Take Another Dip

Initial claims for unemployment insurance continued to drop even as employers say they have problems filling key service industry positions, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

For the week ending August 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 375,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week’s level, which revised up by 2,000 from 385,000 to 387,000. The four-week moving average rose to 396,250, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week’s revised average.

The report said the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 2.1 percent for the week ending July 31, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s rate, which revised up by 0.1 from 2.1 to 2.2 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 31 fell to 2,866,000, a decrease of 114,000 from the previous week’s revised level to the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 14, 2020, when it was 1,770,000. The four-week moving average fell to 3,101,000, a decrease of 99,750 from the previous week’s revised average to the lowest level for this average since March 21, 2020, when it was 2,071,750.

The report said the advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 320,517 in the week ending August 7, a decrease of 5,198 (-1.6 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 6,690 (2.1 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 831,251 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending August 7, 45 states reported 104,572 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 2.1 percent during the week ending July 31. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 2,817,487, a decrease of 112,842 (-3.9 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 959 (0.0 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 10.4 percent and volume was 15,254,654.

The report said the total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending July 24 fell to 12,055,290, a decrease of 919,593 from the previous week. Labor reported 28,957,778 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.