This morning the state Employment Security Department (ESD) gave its weekly report on unemployment insurance claims.

ESD reported a total of 14,624 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending May 1. Of this total, 10,507 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 1,855 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 2,262 claims were filed under the federal pandemic unemployment compensation program, which adds 13 weeks to the maximum term of benefits.

The number of new claims for regular unemployment insurance is a decrease of 1,122 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. ESD notes:

Initial regular claims applications are now 90 percent below weekly new claims applications during the same period last year during the pandemic. … Decreases in layoffs in Retail Trade and Educational Services contributed to the decrease in regular initial claims last week.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 13,158, down 339 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 14,331 up from 14,316 the preceding week.

The number of initial claims under the two federal pandemic programs is a decrease of 44 from the number filed during the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 389,633 in the most recent week. This is a decrease of 2,578 from the number reported for the preceding week and the lowest number since the onset of the pandemic recession. Still, the number of continuing claims is more than twice the peak reached during the Great Recession, 169,727.

ESD press releases are posted here.