43,000 decline last week to 184,000

The United States (US) over the past year saw unemployment claims decline on a weekly level to their lowest in 52 years.

Advance figures, for the week ending December 4, show unemployment claims totaling 184,000, representing a 43,000 decrease from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest amount of initial claims since September 6, 1969, when it stood at 182,000.

For the week ending November 27, the advance insured unemployment rate was 1.5 per cent, up 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised estimate. The advance figure for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for the week ending November 27 was 1,992,000, up 38,000 from the previous week’s revised figure.

The unadjusted advance number of actual initial claims under state programmes totalled 280,665 in the week ending December 4, up 63,680 (or 29.3 per cent) from the previous week. Seasonal factors predicted a 106,047 (or 48.9 per cent) increase from the previous week. In the equivalent week in 2020, there were 946,661 initial claims.

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance among States

In addition, 32 states reported 1,826 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for the week ending December 4. During the week ending November 27, the advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.5 per cent, up 0.3 percentage point from the previous week.

The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programmes was 1,958,827, up 397,591 (or 25.5 per cent) over the previous week. Seasonal factors anticipated a 359,514 (or 23.0 per cent) increase from the previous week. The rate was 4.0 per cent a year ago, and the volume was 5,790,579.

For the week ending November 20, the total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programmes was 1,947,598, a decrease of 350,527 from the previous week. In the comparable week in 2020, there were 19,575,088 weekly claims for benefits in all programmes.

Extended benefits were provided in four states during the week ending November 20. The four states are Alaska, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New Mexico. In the week ending November 27, there were 860 initial claims for UI benefits made by former Federal civilian employees, a reduction of 84 from the previous week.

There were 275 initial claims submitted by recently discharged veterans, a 116-percentage-point reduction from the previous week. The week ending November 20, there were 7,950 continued weeks claims filed by former Federal civilian employees, a 561 reduction from the previous week.

Discharged veterans claiming benefits

The number of newly discharged veterans claiming benefits was 4,300, a 786 reduction from the previous week. During the week ending November 20, 42 states reported 124,536 ongoing weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and 112,728 ongoing claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.

Alaska (2.9), the District of Columbia (2.8), New Jersey (2.3), Puerto Rico (2.3), California (2.1), Hawaii (1.8), Minnesota (1.8), Nevada (1.8), Illinois (1.7), and Massachusetts had the highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending November 20. (1.7).

North Carolina (+2,461), Wisconsin (+1,081), Ohio (+300), Connecticut (+251), and Idaho (+249) had the most increases in initial claims for the week ending November 27, while Virginia (-6,548), California (-5,613), Texas (-5,447), Michigan (-2,640), and New Jersey had the highest decreases (-2,371).