U.S. unemployment claims higher for the week ended July 18

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate stood at 11.1% for the week ending July 11, a 0.7% decline from the prior week’s revised rate. The preceding week’s rate was revised down by 0.1 percentage points from 11.9% to 11.8%. Moreover, DOL stated that, “advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 11 was 16,197,000, a decrease of 1,107,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 34,000 from 17,338,000 to 17,304,000.” Relative to last week’s revised average, the 4-week moving average decreased by 758,500 to 17,505,250. Notably, there was a downward revision in the preceding week’s average by 8,500 from 18,272,250 to 18,263,750.

UNADJUSTED DATA

Based on the unadjusted advance estimate, there were 1,370,947 actual initial claims under state programs in the week ending July 18, a decrease of 141,816 (or -9.4%) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had anticipated a decline of 247,115 (or -16.3%) from the previous week. Moreover, for the week ending July 18, 49 states observed 974,999 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

During the week ending July 11, the advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate stood at 11.2%, a 0.7 percentage point increase relative to the previous week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs fell by 930,294 (or -5.4%) to 16,390,919 from a week earlier. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 190,343 (or 1.1%) from the previous week.

A total of 31,802,715 persons claimed benefits in all programs for the week ended July 4, a decline of 200,615 compared to the prior week.

Extended Benefits, during the week ending July 4, were accessible in the following 52 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, 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, Nebraska, 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, Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

For the week ending July 11, 1,732 former Federal civilian employees claimed for UI benefits, an increase of 409 relative to the previous week, whereas 1,245 newly discharged veterans (+168) claimed for benefits.

However, for the week ending July 4, 15,098 former Federal civilian employees claimed for UI benefits, an increase of 952 relative to the previous week, whereas 14,052 newly discharged veterans (+1,260) claimed for benefits.

DOL noted that, “the week ending Jul 4, 48 states reported 13,179,880 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 45 states reported 940,113 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.”

In the week ending July 4, Puerto Rico observed the highest insured unemployment rates of 26.0% followed by Nevada (21.3), Hawaii (20.7), Georgia (18.0), California (16.9), Louisiana (16.6), New York (16.1), Connecticut (15.4), the Virgin Islands (15.2), and Massachusetts (15.0).

The states that experienced the highest increases in initial claims for the week ending July 11 were Florida (+65,890), Georgia (+33,292), California (+20,123), Washington (+16,116), and Indiana (+6,258), while the largest decreases were in Maryland (-13,728), Texas (-11,583), New Jersey (-8,577), Michigan (-6,882), and Louisiana (-5,066).