Jobless claims reach pandemic-era low of 348,000

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Yahoo Finance

Jobless claims reach pandemic-era low of 348,000

Emily McCormick · Reporter
Thu, August 19, 2021, 8:31 AM · 3 min read

Initial unemployment claims fell further last week to the lowest level since March 2020, bringing the level of weekly new filings closer to pre-virus levels.

The Labor Department released its weekly jobless claims report on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Here were the main metrics from the print, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

-- Initial unemployment claims, week ended August 14: 348,000 vs. 364,000 expected and 375,000 during the prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended August 7: 2.820 million vs. 2.800 million expected and 2.866 million during the prior week

New weekly jobless claims posted a fourth straight weekly decline, coming in yet again below the psychologically important 400,000 level. But even with the drop, new weekly claims are still elevated compared to the period before the pandemic, with claims averaging just over 200,000 per week throughout 2019.

"Amid no shortage of quickly changing crosscurrents in the U.S. economy and beyond, one reliable constant has been continued improvement or stability in new claims for unemployment benefits, which are a proxy for layoffs," Mark Hamrick, Bankrate senior economic analyst, wrote in an email. "The major issue for employers hasn't been an urgent need to shed workers. Rather, many have struggled to attract, find, hire, and retain the workers they want."

Likewise, the total number of claimants across all programs has remained elevated, albeit while coming down sharply from peak levels during the outbreak. For the week ended July 24, about 12.1 million Americans were claiming benefits across both state and federal unemployment programs. That sum was down by about 920,000 compared to the prior week. The pace of declines has begun to accelerate as more states ended federal unemployment benefits early and ahead of their official September expiration date at the national level.

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Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-august-14-2021-181609988.html

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Placeholder headline:

Another 364,000 individuals likely filed new jobless claims
Check back at 8:30 a.m. DT for results

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. From the source:

https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf

News Release

Connect with DOL at
https://blog.dol.gov

TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL
8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, August 19, 2021

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending August 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 348,000, a decrease of 29,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 375,000 to 377,000. The 4-week moving average was 377,750, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 225,500. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 396,250 to 396,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent for the week ending August 7, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 7 was 2,820,000, a decrease of 79,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 14, 2020 when it was 1,770,000. The previous week's level was revised up 33,000 from 2,866,000 to 2,899,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,998,750, a decrease of 110,500 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 21, 2020 when it was 2,071,750. The previous week's average was revised up by 8,250 from 3,101,000 to 3,109,250.

{snip}

UNADJUSTED DATA

{snip. Emphasis mine}

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending July 31 was 11,743,515, a decrease of 311,787 from the previous week. There were 28,676,558 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

{snip the rest of the twelve-page news release, until the end}

Weekly Claims Archives
Weekly Claims Data

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