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

ESD reported a total of 36,382 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending December 12. Of this total, 19,547 initial claims were under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 4,061 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 12,775 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 5,040 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 (-1,585) and Construction (-1,284) industry sectors.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 24,186, up 678 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 19,323, up from 18,828 (revised) the preceding week.

The number of initial claims under the two pandemic programs is an increase of 2,034 from the number filed during the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 454,878 in the most recent week. This is an increase of 1,734 from the number reported for the preceding week.

The ESD press release is here.