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

ESD reported a total of 22,784 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending February 6. Of this total, 15,644 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 3,150 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 3,990 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 458 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. ESD notes:

Reductions in layoffs in the accommodation and food services sector drove the overall decrease in regular initial claims last week. Regular initial claims in the accommodation and food services sector decreased by 140 claims over the week to 1,455 total regular initial claims.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 16,855, down 2,876 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 14,965 down from 17,026 the preceding week.

The number of initial claims under the two federal pandemic programs is a decrease of 3,074 from the number filed during the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 459,658 in the most recent week. This is a decrease of 3,767 from the number reported for the preceding week.

The ESD press release is here.