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

ESD reported a total of 78,064 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending December 26. Of this total, 29,651 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 5,818 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 42,595 claims were filed under either the federal pandemic unemployment compensation program or the state extended benefit program, each of which adds 13 weeks to the maximum term of benefits. (Many of the 42,595 extended benefit claims were filed in the state program in response to the temporary lapsing of the federal program.)

The number of new claims for regular unemployment insurance is an increase of 10,459 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. ESD notes:

Seasonal layoffs in construction and increases in initial claims from the accommodation and food services sector drove the largest increase in new jobless claims last week. Initial regular claims in the construction sector increased by 1,612 over the week to 4,941 total regular initial claims, while initial regular claims in the Accommodation and Food Services sector increased by 1,001 over the week to 3,096 initial claims.

The other industry sectors that experienced substantial increases in initial claims over the week were in Retail trade (+774) and Manufacturing (+707). The increases in retail trade are partly associated with post-holiday layoffs in the retail trade sector.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 21,497, up 1,266 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 14,267, down from 15,643 (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 federal pandemic programs and the state extended benefit program is an increase of 30,368 from the number filed during the preceding week. As noted above, much of this increase is due to the temporary suspension of the federal pandemic extended benefit program.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 479,355 in the most recent week. This is an increase of 19,222 from the number reported for the preceding week.

The ESD press release is here.