Unemployment Claims Hit New Post-Pandemic Low

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell by more than 51,000 last week, reaching another post-pandemic low, the Labor Department said Thursday.

For the week ending June 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 364,000, a decrease of 51,000, to the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020, when it was 256,000. The previous week’s level revised up by 4,000 from 411,000 to 415,000. The four-week moving average fell to 392,750, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised average to its lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020, when it was 225,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 2.5 percent for the week ending June 19. The previous week’s rate revised up by 0.1 from 2.4 to 2.5 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending June 19 rose to 3,469,000, an increase of 56,000 from the previous week’s level, which  revised up 23,000 from 3,390,000 to 3,413,000. The four-week moving average fell to 3,481,750, a decrease of 75,000 from the previous week’s revised average to its lowest level since March 21, 2020, when it was 2,071,750.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 359,130 in the week ending June 26, a decrease of 38,262 (-9.6 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 12,709 (3.2 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 1,426,894 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending June 26, 49 states reported 115,267 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The report said the advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 2.3 percent during the week ending June 19. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 3,270,789, an increase of 37,470 (1.2 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 19,032 (-0.6 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 12.0 percent and volume 17,518,656.

The report said total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending June 12 fell to 14,659,791, a decrease of 180,890 from the previous week. Labor reported 32,118,436 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.