The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate stood at 7.5% for the week ending September 26, a 0.7 percentage point decrease from the prior week’s revised rate.  Moreover, DOL stated that, “advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending September 26 was 10,976,000, a decrease of 1,003,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 212,000 from 11,767,000 to 11,979,000.” Relative to last week’s revised average, the 4-week moving average decreased by 642,000 to 12,112,250. Notably, there was an upward revision in the preceding week’s average by 53,000 from 12,701,250 to 12,754,250.

UNADJUSTED DATA

Based on the unadjusted advance estimate, there were 804,307actual initial claims under state programs in the week ending October 3, an increase of5,312 (or 0.7%) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a rise of14,319 (or 1.8%) from the previous week. Furthermore, for the week ending October 3, 53 states observed 464,437initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

During the week ending September 26, the advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate stood at 7.3%, a 0.7 percentage point decline relative to the previous week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs fell by 1,010,280 (or -8.7%) to 10,612,021from a week earlier. The seasonal factors had expected a decline of7,090 (or -0.1%) from the previous week.

A total of 25,505,499persons claimed benefits in all programs for the week ended September 19, a decrease of 1,003,179compared to the prior week.

Extended Benefits, during the week ending September 19, were accessible in the following 46 states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, 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, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

For the week ending the 26^th of September, 1,097 former Federal civilian employees claimed for UI benefits, an increase of 8 relative to the previous week, whereas 1,001 newly discharged veterans (+172) claimed for benefits.

However, for the week ending the 19^th of September, 12,136former Federal civilian employees claimed for UI benefits, a decline of 1,172 relative to the previous week, whereas 13,758newly discharged veterans (-654) claimed for benefits.

DOL noted that, “during the week ending September 19, 50 states reported 11,394,832 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 49 states reported 1,959,953 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.”

In the week ending September 19, Hawaii observed the highest insured unemployment rates of 20.1% followed by , California (16.1), Nevada (13.7), Puerto Rico (12.2), the Virgin Islands (12.1), Louisiana (11.4), New York (11.1), Georgia (10.9), District of Columbia (10.4), and Michigan (10.2).

The state that experienced the highest increases in initial claims for the week ending September 26 wereMaryland (+3,619), Illinois (+3,414), New Jersey (+2,504), Michigan (+2,358), and Massachusetts (+1,886), while the largest decreases were in Texas (-7,075), Florida (-6,655), Georgia (-5,895), New York (-5,112), and Oregon (-2,317).

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