Unemployment Claims Show Little Movement

Unemployment claims fell last week, but remained above 400,000 as revisions showed an increase from the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

For the week ending June 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 411,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week’s level, which revised up by 6,000 from 412,000 to 418,000. The four-week moving average rose to 397,750, an increase of 1,500 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 2.4 percent for the week ending June 12, 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 June 12 fell to 3,390,000, a decrease of 144,000 from the previous week’s revised level to the lowest level since March 21, 2020, when it was 3,094,000. The four-week moving average fell to 3,552,500, a decrease of 55,250 from the previous week’s revised average to the lowest level since March 21, 2020, when it was 2,071,750.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 393,078 in the week ending June 19, a decrease of 14,720 (3.6 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 7,823 (1.9 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 1,447,127 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending June 19, 51 states reported 104,682 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 2.3 percent during the week ending June 12, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 3,210,285, a decrease of 94,092 (2.8 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 50,364 (1.5 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 12.2 percent and volume was 17,823,790.

Continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending June 5 was 14,845,450, an increase of 3,756 from the previous week. Labor reported 31,337,556 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.