September 24, 2020
The seasonally adjusted initial claims, advance estimate, increased by 4,000 to 870,000 for the week ending September 19 from the prior week’s revised level, according to the U.S. Department of Labour (DOL). The prior week’s level was revised from 860,000 to 866,000 up by 6,000. In comparison to the previous week’s average, the 4-week moving average was 878,250, a decline of 35,250. Moreover, the preceding week’s average was revised up by 1,500 from 912,000 to 913,500.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate stood at 8.6% for the week ending September 12, a 0.1%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 12 was 12,580,000, a decrease of 167,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 119,000 from 12,628,000 to 12,747,000.” Relative to last week’s revised average, the 4-week moving average decreased by 478,000 to 13,040,750. Notably, there was an upward revision in the preceding week’s average by 29,750 from 13,489,000 to 13,518,750.
Based on the unadjusted advance estimate, there were 824,542 actual initial claims under state programs in the week ending September 19, an increase of 28,527 (or 3.6%) from the previous week. Furthermore, for the week ending September 19, 52 states observed 630,080 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
During the week ending September 12, the advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate stood at 8.4%, a 0.1 percentage point decline relative to the previous week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs fell by 176,510 (or -1.4%) to 12,264,351 from a week earlier. DOL also reported, “The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 9,932 (or -0.1 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.0 percent and the volume was 1,399,601.”
For the week ending the 12th of September, 954 former Federal civilian employees claimed for UI benefits, an increase of 1 relative to the previous week, whereas 794 newly discharged veterans (a decline of 91) claimed for benefits.
The state that experienced the highest increases in initial claims for the week ending September 12 were Indiana (+1,990), Kansas (+1,928), Illinois (+1,906), and Michigan (+1,727), while the largest decreases were in California (-17,400), Texas (-15,905), Louisiana (-8,384), Georgia (-8,235), and Washington (-3,291).
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