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

ESD reported a total of 27,222 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending January 23. Of this total, 16,461 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 3,829 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 6,932 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 2,751 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. ESD notes:

Reductions in layoffs in accommodation and food services and in the retail trade sector drove a decrease in new regular jobless claims last week. Regular initial claims in the accommodation and food services sector decreased by 464 claims over the week to 1,814 total regular initial claims. In the retail trade sector initial claims decreased by 318 initial claims over the week.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 23,118, down 683 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 18,667, up from 18,204 (revised) the preceding week.

The number of initial claims under the two federal pandemic programs is a decrease of 1,803 from the number filed during the preceding week.
ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 454,936 in the most recent week. This is an increase of 17,911 from the number reported for the preceding week.

ESD notes:

Extended Benefits claims accounted for the bulk of the increase in continued claims over the week. Extended Benefits claims increased across all industry sectors over the week, with the Accommodation and Food services (+794) and Retail trade (+515) sectors experiencing the largest increases.

The ESD press release is here.