U.S. unemployment claims lower for the week ended June 27

Market News

July 2, 2020

July 02, 2020

For the week ended June 27, seasonally adjusted initial claims declined by 55,000 to 1,427,000 from the previous week’s revised level. Claims for the prior week was 1,482,000 following an upward revision of 2,000 from 1,480,000. According to the U.S. Department of Labour (DOL), “The 4-week moving average was 1,503,750, a decrease of 117,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 500 from 1,620,750 to 1,621,250.”

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate stood at 13.2% for the week ending June 20 unchanged from the prior week’s revised rate. The preceding week’s rate was revised down by 0.2 percentage points from 13.4% to 13.2%. Moreover, DOL stated that, “the advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending June 20 was 19,290,000, an increase of 59,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 291,000 from 19,522,000 to 19,231,000.” Relative to last week’s revised average, the 4-week moving average decreased by 494,500 to 19,854,000. Notably, there was a downward revision in the preceding week’s average by 72,750 from 20,421,250 to 20,348,500.

UNADJUSTED DATA

Based on the unadjusted advance estimate, there were 1,445,481 actual initial claims under state programs in the week ending June 27, a decline of 14,575 (or -1.0%) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had anticipated a rise of 41,504 (or 2.8%) from the previous week. Moreover, for the week ending June 27, 47 states observed 839,563 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

During the week ending June 20, the advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate stood at 12.3%, a 0.2% increase relative to the previous week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs increased 266,351 (or 1.5%) to 17,920,654 from a week earlier. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 211,544 (or 1.2 %) from the previous week.

A total of 31,491,627 persons claimed benefits in all programs for the week ended June 13, an increase of 916,722 compared to the prior week.

Extended Benefits, during the week ending June 13, were accessible in the following 48 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Virgin Islands, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

For the week ending June 20, 1,599 former Federal civilian employees claimed for UI benefits, a decrease of 97 relative to the previous week, whereas 1,196 newly discharged veterans (+2) claimed for benefits.

However, for the week ending June 13, 14,645 former Federal civilian employees claimed for UI benefits, a decrease of 694 relative to the previous week, whereas 12,637 newly discharged veterans (+154) claimed for benefits.

DOL noted that, “during the week ending June 13, 47 states reported 12,853,163 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 39 states reported 749,703 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.”

In the week ending June 13, Puerto Rico observed the highest insured unemployment rates of 23.0% followed by Nevada (21.4), Hawaii (21.3), the Virgin Islands (17.8), New York (17.5), California (16.0), Louisiana (15.9), Massachusetts (15.9), Georgia (15.3), and Connecticut (15.2).

The states that experienced the highest increases in initial claims for the week ending June 20 were California (+43,070), Maryland (+9,099), Florida (+7,535), New Jersey (+6,589), and Indiana (+5,314), while the largest decreases were in Oklahoma (-26,166), Kentucky (-12,804), Oregon (-8,371), Georgia (-6,272), and New York (-6,119).

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