Initial Claims Back under 200,000

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell under 200,000 for the third time in six weeks, the Labor Department reported Thursday, although the number could increase in the next several weeks as potential effects from the Omicron variant surface.

The report said for the week ending December 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 198,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week, which revised up by 1,000 from 205,000 to 206,000. The four-week moving average fell to 199,250, a decrease of 7,250 from the previous week’s revised average to its lowest level since October 25, 1969, when it was 199,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 1.3 percent for the week ending December 18, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 18 fell to 1,716,000, a decrease of 140,000 from the previous week to its lowest level since March 7, 2020, when it was 1,715,000. The four-week moving average fell to 1,859,500, a decrease of 59,500 from the previous week to its lowest level since March 14, 2020, when it was 1,730,750.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 256,146 in the week ending December 25, an increase of 1,125 (0.4 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 8,822 (3.5 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 823,788 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending December 25, 31 states reported 897 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 1.2 percent during the week ending December 18, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 1,636,508, a decrease of 191,107 (10.5 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 50,893 (2.8 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 3.6 percent and the volume was 5,225,796.

The report said the total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending December 11 rose to 2,177,355, an increase of 39,363 from the previous week. Labor reported 20,492,081 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.