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

ESD reported a total of 17,012 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending March 27. Of this total, 11,445 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 2,384 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 3,173 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 an increase of 47 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. ESD notes:

Slight increases in layoffs in Construction and the Educational Services sector led to a marginal increase in regular initial claims last week.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 11,576, down 378 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 12,828 down from 13,270 (revised) the preceding week.

The number of initial claims under the two federal pandemic programs is a decrease of 1,699 from the number filed during the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 413,065 in the most recent week. This is a decrease of 3,956 from the number reported for the preceding week.

The ESD press release is here.