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

ESD reported a total of 32,981 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the August 2–August 8 week. Of this total, 22,140 initial claims were under the regular unemployment insurance program; 4,540 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 6,301 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment compensation program, which extends the maximum term of benefits from 26 weeks to 39 weeks.

The number new claims for regular unemployment insurance is a decrease of 2,845 from the number claims filed during the preceding week. The number of initial claims under the two pandemic programs is a decrease of 467 from the number filed during the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 538,429 in the most recent week. This is a decrease of 81,834 from the number reported for the preceding week.

The ESD press release is here.