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

ESD reported a total of 34,742 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending December 19. Of this total, 17,596 initial claims were under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 3,711 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 13,435 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment compensation program, which extends the maximum term of benefits from 26 weeks to 39 weeks.

The number of new claims for regular unemployment insurance is a decrease of 1,951 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. ESD notes:

Decreases in regular initial claims over the week occurred across most industry sectors with the largest decreases over the week occurring in the Accommodation and food services (-963) and Manufacturing (-312) industry sectors. Increases in regular initial claims occurred in the construction sector (+352) during the week.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 21,016, down 3,170 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 16,835, down from 19,260 (revised) the preceding week.

The number of initial claims under the two pandemic programs is an increase of 310 from the number filed during the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 424,170 in the most recent week. This is a decrease of 30,708 from the number reported for the preceding week.

The ESD press release is here.