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

ESD reported a total of 41,947 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending January 9. Of this total, 27,147 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 5,220 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 9,580 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 2,504 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. ESD notes:

Reductions in seasonal layoffs in construction and agriculture drove a decrease in new regular jobless claims last week. Regular initial claims in the construction sector decreased by 1,742 over the week to 3,199 total regular initial claims, while initial claims in the Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector decreased by 422 over the week to 739 initial claims.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 23,397, up 1,900 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 17,140, up from 15,940 (revised) the preceding week.

The number of initial claims under the two federal pandemic programs and the state extended benefit program is a decrease of 33,613 from the number filed during the preceding week. Last week’s number was driven up by the temporary suspension of the federal pandemic extended benefit program.
Many of the 42,595 extended benefit claims were filed in the state program in response to the temporary lapsing of the federal program.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 473,614 in the most recent week. This is a decrease of 5,741 from the number reported for the preceding week.

The ESD press release is here.