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

ESD reported a total of 18,401 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending February 27. Of this total, 12,958 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 2,307 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 3,136 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 1,085 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. ESD notes:

Decreases in layoffs in Accommodation & Food Services and Construction led the overall decrease in regular initial claims last week. Regular initial claims in the Accommodation & Food Services sector decreased by 400 initial claims over the week to 1,052 total regular initial claims. Initial claims for regular benefits in the Construction sector decreased by 325 initial claims over the week to 2,441 initial claims.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 14,063, down 786 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 13,074 down from 13,254 the preceding week.

The number of initial claims under the two federal pandemic programs is an increase of 10 from the number filed during the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 440,927 in the most recent week. This is a decrease of 1,815 from the number reported for the preceding week.

The ESD press release is here.