Initial Claims Down Another 38,000

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell for the fourth straight week to another 14-month low, continuing a trend toward pre-pandemic levels, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The report said for the week ending May 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 406,000, a decrease of 38,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 444,000. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020, when it was 256,000. The four-week moving average fell to 458,750, a decrease of 46,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 504,750. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020, when it was 225,500.

The report said the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 2.6 percent for the week ending May 15, 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 May 15 dropped to 3,642,000, a decrease of 96,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 13,000 from 3,751,000 to 3,738,000. The four-week moving average fell to 3,675,000, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous week’s revised average.

The report said the advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 420,472 in the week ending May 22, a decrease of 34,131 (or -7.5 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 3,932 (or 0.9 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 1,902,793 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending May 22, 53 states reported 93,546 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 2.5 percent during the week ending May 15, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 3,521,314, a decrease of 149,996 (or -4.1 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 53,483 (or -1.5 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 13.1 percent and the volume was 19,037,741.

The report said the total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending May 8 fell to 15,802,126, a decrease of 175,255 from the previous week. Labor reported 31,578,845 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.