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

ESD reported a total of 31,776 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending January 16. Of this total, 19,212 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 4,482 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 8,082 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 7,935 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. ESD notes:

Reductions in seasonal layoffs in construction drove a decrease in new regular jobless claims last week. Regular initial claims in the construction sector decreased by 838 over the week to 2,361 total regular initial claims. Reduction in layoffs from the Administration and Support industry sector also contributed to the decrease in regular initial claims over the week with initial claims in this sector decreasing by 526 initial claims over the week.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 23,801, up 404 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 18,204, up from 17,127 (revised) the preceding week.

The number of initial claims under the two federal pandemic programs is a decrease of 2,236 from the number filed during the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 437,025 in the most recent week. This is a decrease of 36,589 from the number reported for the preceding week.

The ESD press release is here.