December 03, 2020
The seasonally adjusted initial claims, advance estimate, fell by 75,000 to 712,000 for the week ending November 28 from the prior week’s revised level, according to the U.S. Department of Labour (DOL). The prior week’s level was revised from 778,000 to 787,000 up by 9,000. In comparison to the previous week’s average, the 4-week moving average was 739,500, a decrease of 11,250. Moreover, the preceding week’s average was revised up by 2,250 from 748,500 to 750,750.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate stood at 3.8% for the week ending November 21, a 0.4 percentage point decline from the prior week’s revised rate. The previous week’s rate was revised up by 0.1 from 4.1 to 4.2%. Moreover, DOL stated that, “advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending November 21 was 5,520,000, a decrease of 569,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 18,000 from 6,071,000 to 6,089,000.” Relative to last week’s revised average, the 4-week moving average decreased by 425,500 to 6,194,250. Notably, there was an upward revision in the preceding week’s average up by 4,500 from 6,615,250 to 6,619,750.
UNADJUSTED DATA
Based on the unadjusted advance estimate, there were 713,824 actual initial claims under state programs in the week ending November 28, a decline of 122,453 (or -14.6%) from the previous week. The seasonal factors anticipated a decrease of 47,067 (or -5.6%) from the previous week. Furthermore, for the week ending November 28, 52 states observed 288,701 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
During the week ending November 21, the advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate stood at 3.6%, a 0.4 percentage point decline relative to the previous week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs fell by 690,170 (or -11.6%) to 5,240,575 from a week earlier. The seasonal factors had anticipated a fall of 120,501 (or -2.0%) from the previous week.
A total of 20,163,477 persons claimed benefits in all programs for the week ended November 14, a decline of 349,633 compared to the prior week.
Extended Benefits, during the week ending November 14, were accessible in the following 36 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, Washington, and West Virginia.
For the week ending the 21 of November, 2,807 former Federal civilian employees claimed for UI benefits, a rise of 371 relative to the previous week, whereas, 823 newly discharged veterans (+69) claimed for benefits.
However, for the week ending the 14th of November, 14,494 former Federal civilian employees claimed for UI benefits, a rise of 955 relative to the previous week, whereas 11,154 newly discharged veterans (-47) claimed for benefits.
DOL noted that, “during the week ending November 14, 51 states reported 8,869,502 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 51 states reported 4,569,016 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.”
In the week ending November 14, Virgin Islands observed the highest insured unemployment rates of 7.9% followed by California (7.3), Hawaii (7.1), Nevada (6.7), Alaska (6.4), Massachusetts (6.0), Georgia (5.7), Illinois (5.6), District of Columbia (5.5), and Puerto Rico (5.5).
The state that experienced the highest increases in initial claims for the week ending November 21 were in Illinois (+18,796), Michigan (+17,285), Washington (+13,499), Georgia (+9,462), and California (+9,361), while the largest decreases were in Louisiana (-33,573), Massachusetts (-22,572), New Jersey (-783), Idaho (-328), and District of Columbia (-255).
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