Initial Claims Under 300,000 for 1st Time Since Pandemic

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fall sharply for the second straight week, falling below 300,000 for the first time since onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

For the week ending October 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 293,000, a decrease of 36,000 from the previous week’s revised level to the lowest level since March 14, 2020, when it was 256,000. The previous week’s level revised up by 3,000 from 326,000 to 329,000. The four-week moving average fell to 334,250, a decrease of 10,500 from the previous week’s revised average to its lowest level since March 14, 2020, when it was 225,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 1.9 percent for the week ending October 2, 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 October 2 fell to 2,593,000, a decrease of 134,000 from the previous week’s revised level to lowest level since March 14, 2020, when it was 1,770,000. The previous week’s level revised up by 13,000 from 2,714,000 to 2,727,000. The four-week moving average fell to 2,737,750, a decrease of 30,500 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 277,632 in the week ending October 9, an increase of 16,017 (6.1 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 52,018 (19.9 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 822,205 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. In addition, for the week ending October 9, 38 states reported 21,913 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The report said the advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate fell o 1.7 percent during the week ending October 2, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 2,252,670, a decrease of 151,657 (6.3 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 16,851 (0.7 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 6.1 percent and the volume was 8,917,837.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending September 25 fell to 3,649,013, a decrease of 523,426 from the previous week. Labor reported 24,902,586 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.