U.S. unemployment claims decreased for the week ended May 22

May 27, 2021

The seasonally adjusted initial claims, advance estimate, decreased by 38,000 to 406,000, for the week ended May 22, from the prior week’s unrevised level of 444,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labour (DOL). In comparison to the previous week’s average, the 4-week moving average was 458,750, a decrease of 46,000. Moreover, the preceding week’s unrevised average was 504,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate stood at 2.6% for the week ending April 24 from the prior week’s revised rate. Moreover, DOL stated that, “advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ended May 15 was 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.” Relative to last week’s revised average, the 4-week moving average decreased by 2,750 to 3,675,000. The prior week’s average was revised down by 3,250 from 3,681,000 to 3,677,750.

 

UNADJUSTED DATA

Based on the unadjusted advance estimate, there were 420,472 actual initial claims under state programs in the week ended May 22, a decrease of 34,131 (or -7.5%) from the previous week. The seasonal factors anticipated an increase of 3,932 (or 0.9%) from the previous week. Furthermore, for the week ended May 22, 53 states observed 93,546 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

During the week ended May 15, the advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate stood at 2.5% a decrease of 0.1 percentage point compared to the previous week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 3,521,314, a decrease of 149,996 (or -4.1%) from a week earlier. The seasonal factors had anticipated a decrease of 53,483 (or -1.5%) from the previous week.

A total of 15,802,126 persons claimed benefits in all programs for the week ended May 8, a decline of 175,255 compared to the prior week.

Extended Benefits, during the week ended May 8, were accessible in the following 14 states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Texas.

For the week ended the 15th of May, 834 former Federal civilian employees claimed for UI benefits, a decrease of 97 relative to the previous week, whereas 606 newly discharged veterans (-3) claimed for benefits.

However, for the week ended the 8th of May, 13,453 former Federal civilian employees claimed for UI benefits, a fall of 332 relative to the previous week, whereas 7,300 newly discharged veterans (-21) claimed for benefits.

DOL noted that, “during the week ended May 8, 51 states reported 6,515,657 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 51 states reported 5,191,642 continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.”

In the week ended May 8, Nevada observed the highest insured unemployment rate of 5.7% followed by Connecticut (4.5), Rhode Island (4.5), Alaska (4.3), Puerto Rico (4.3), California (3.9), New York (3.9), Pennsylvania (3.9), Illinois (3.7), and Vermont (3.6).

New Jersey (+4,812), Washington (+3,023), Minnesota (+1,806), West Virginia (+907), and Rhode Island (+792) had the highest increases in initial claims for the week ended May 15, while Georgia (-7,392), Kentucky (-7,123), Texas (-3,881), Michigan (-3,560), and Florida (-2,994) had the largest decreases.

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