The U.S. Department of Labor released the Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report. In the week ending May 9^th, the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance remained in the magnitude of millions. On a bright side, continuing claims had the smallest increase in the week ending May 2^nd, and we are seeing a flattening trend in the continuing claims curve.

In the week ending May 9^th, the number of initial claims was at a seasonally adjusted level of 2,981,000, a decrease of 195,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 3,176,000 claims. The four-week moving average decreased to 3,616,500, from a revised average of 4,180,500 in the previous week. The total 2.981 million new claims brought the eight-week total to nearly 36.5 million.

Meanwhile, the number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment, known as continuing claims, rose by 456,000 to 22,833,000 in the week ending May 2^nd, the smallest increase in the past seven weeks. The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage point to 15.7% for the week ending May 2^nd.

The U.S. Department of Labor also released the advanced number of actual initial claims under state programs without seasonal adjustments. The unadjusted number of advanced initial claims totaled 2,614,093 in the week ending May 9^th, a slightly decrease of 241,467 from the previous week.

The map below shows the percent changes of 4-week average of advanced initial claims for the week ending May 9^th, compared to March 14^th (prior to the COVID-19 outbreak). Some states were hit harder than others amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For the week ending May 9^th, Florida, Georgia and Connecticut (in the darkest red) reported the largest increases in advanced initial claims; Wyoming, Vermont, California, Illinois and Wisconsin had the least increases, less than 1000%. Many southern states were among those that had the largest increases.

The total number of advanced initial claims for the week ending May 9^th are presented for each state in the map as well. Connecticut, Georgia, Florida, California and New York reported the most advanced initial claims in the week ending May 9^th. Connecticut led the way with 298,680 claims, followed by Georgia with 241,387 claims and Florida with 221,905 claims.

Tags: continuing claims, coronavirus, COVID-19, initial claims, insured unemployment rate, jobless claims