Initial Claims Continue to Drop

Initial claims for unemployment insurance continued to decrease to pre-pandemic levels, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

For the week ending July 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 400,000, a decrease of 24,000 from the previous week; the previous week’s level revised up by 5,000 from 419,000 to 424,000. The four-week moving average rose to 394,500, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 2.4 percent for the week ending July 17. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 17 rose to 3,269,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level revised up 26,000 from 3,236,000 to 3,262,000. The four-week moving average fell to 3,290,750, a decrease of 53,750 from the previous week’s revised average. This is 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 344,653 in the week ending July 24, a decrease of 66,591 (16.2 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 41,806 (10.2 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 1,202,278 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending July 24, 45 states reported 95,166 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 2.4 percent during the week ending July 17. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 3,247,071, a decrease of 28,428 (0.9 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 35,837 (1.1 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 11.6 percent and the volume was 16,882,632.

The report said the total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending July 10 was 13,156,252, an increase of 582,403 from the previous week. Labor reported 31,898,353 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.