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

ESD reported a total of 37,237 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending December 26. Of this total, 19,192 initial claims were under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 3,918 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 14,127 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 an increase of 1,596 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. ESD notes:

Seasonal layoffs in construction and agriculture drove an increase in new jobless claims last week. Regular initial claims in the construction sector increased by 692 over the week to 3,329 total regular initial claims, while initial claims in the Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector increased by 286 over the week to 990 initial claims.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 20,231, down 786 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 15,241, down from 16,339 (revised) the preceding week. The seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims is now below the peak value reached during the Great Recession.

The number of initial claims under the two pandemic programs is an increase of 899 from the number filed during the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 460,133 in the most recent week. This is an increase of 35,963 from the number reported for the preceding week.

The ESD press release is here.