New Jobless Claims Edge Up Beyond Forecasts

For the week ending Sept. 11, new jobless claims were up 20,000 to 332,000 from the previous week’s level, which was revised up by 2,000 to 312,000, according to the weekly report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday (Sept. 16).

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending Aug. 28 was about 12.1 million, an increase of 178,937 from the previous week. Last year during the same week, there were roughly 30.4 weekly claims.

Extended benefits for the week ending Aug. 28 were available in Alaska, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Texas.

See also: New Jobless Claims Hit Lowest Level Since Pandemic Began

Some 47 states reported about 5.5 million continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits during the week ending Aug. 28. Continued claims for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits were reported by 47 states totaling roughly 3.8 million.

The states with the highest unemployment rates for the week that ended Aug. 28 were Puerto Rico, California, New Jersey, District of Columbia, Illinois, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Georgia and Hawaii.

Also see: New Jobless Claims Hit Lowest Level Since Pandemic Began

The biggest bumps in initial claims for the week ending Sept. 4 were in Louisiana, Michigan, California, Kansas and Nevada. The biggest drops were in Missouri, New York, Florida, Tennessee and Georgia. Michigan’s 5,318 increase in initial claims was due to layoffs in the automobile industry.

Bloomberg economists had forecasted that this week’s level would be up by a smaller amount, coming in at 322,000.

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“Unfortunately, delta appears to have left workers uncomfortable returning to the workforce,” Bank of America economist Michelle Meyer told Yahoo! Finance. “All eyes are on whether the broader expiration of UI [unemployment insurance] benefits will prompt greater labor participation in the coming weeks.”