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

ESD reported a total of 15,790 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending April 24. Of this total, 11,629 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 1,822 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 2,339 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 1,587 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. ESD notes:

Initial regular claims applications are now 91 percent below weekly new claims applications during the same period last year during the pandemic. … Decreases in layoffs in Manufacturing and Educational Services contributed to the decrease in regular initial claims last week.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 13,497, up 46 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 14,316 up from 14,231 (revised) the preceding week.

The number of initial claims under the two federal pandemic programs is a decrease of 288 from the number filed during the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 392,211 in the most recent week. This is a decrease of 4,538 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.

The ESD press release is here.