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

ESD reported a total of 259,688 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the May 10–May 16 week. Of this total, 138,733 initial claims were under the regular unemployment insurance program; 61,325 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 59,630 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment compensation program, which extends the maximum term of benefits from 26 weeks to 39 weeks.

The 138,733 new claims for regular unemployment insurance is an increase of 29,308 from the 109,425 claims filed during the preceding week. The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 121,631, up 14,074 from 107,557 for the preceding week.

The 120,955 initial claims under the two pandemic programs is an increase of 17,418 from the 103,537 filed during the preceding week.

We estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 140,210, up from 122,170 the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 1,410,892 in the most recent week. This is an increase of 322,290 from the number reported for the preceding week.

The ESD press release is posted here.