September 11, 2020
The seasonally adjusted initial claims, advance estimate, remained unchanged at 884,000 for the week ending September 5 from the prior week’s revised level, according to the U.S. Department of Labour (DOL). The prior week’s level was revised to 884,000 from 881,000 up by 3,000. In comparison to the previous week’s average, the 4-week moving average was 970,750, a decline of 21,750. Moreover, the preceding week’s average was revised up by 750 from 991,750 to 992,500.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate stood at 9.2% for the week ending August 29, a 0.1 percentage point increase from the prior week’s unrevised rate. Moreover, DOL stated that, “advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 29 was 13,385,000, an increase of 93,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 38,000 from 13,254,000 to 13,292,000.” Relative to last week’s revised average, the 4-week moving average decreased by 523,750 to 13,982,000. Notably, there was an upward revision in the preceding week’s average by 9,500 from 14,496,250 to 14,505,750.
UNADJUSTED DATA
Based on the unadjusted advance estimate, there were 857,148 actual initial claims under state programs in the week ending September 5, an increase of 20,140 (or 2.4%) from the previous week. Furthermore, for the week ending September 5, 48 states observed 838,916 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
During the week ending August 29, the advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate stood at 9.0%, stable relative to the previous week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs rose by 54,472 (or 0.4%) to 13,197,059 from a week earlier.
A total of 29,605,064 persons claimed benefits in all programs for the week ended August 22, an increase of 380,379 compared to the prior week.
Extended Benefits, during the week ending August 22, 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, Utah, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
For the week ending the 29th of August, 1,038 former Federal civilian employees claimed for UI benefits, a decline of 13 relative to the previous week, whereas 914 newly discharged veterans (+112) claimed for benefits.
However, for the week ending the 22th of August, 13,641 former Federal civilian employees claimed for UI benefits, a decrease of 524 relative to the previous week, whereas 13,013 newly discharged veterans (-671) claimed for benefits.
DOL noted that, “during the week ending August 22, 48 states reported 14,591,621 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 49 states reported 1,422,483 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.”
In the week ending August 22, Hawaii observed the highest insured unemployment rates of 20.3% followed by Puerto Rico (16.7), Nevada (16.0), New York (14.9), California (14.8), Connecticut (14.7), Louisiana (13.2), the Virgin Islands (12.6), Georgia (12.2), and District of Columbia (11.5).
The state that experienced the highest increases in initial claims for the week ending August 29 were in California (+22,647), Texas (+4,521), Louisiana (+3,662), Tennessee (+1,288), and Missouri (+1,226), while the largest decreases were in Florida (-6,057), Georgia (-5,485), Pennsylvania (-2,627), Wisconsin (-1,422), and Michigan (-1,159).
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