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

ESD reported a total of 12,211 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending June 5. Of this total, 8,868 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 1,403 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 1,940 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 1,217 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week. ESD notes:

Decreases in layoffs in Retail trade, Accommodation and Food Services and Construction contributed to the decrease in regular initial claims last week.

The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 12,560, down 1,934 from the preceding week. The 4-week average continues to be inflated by the fraudulent claims file during the week ending May 15. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 15,221, down from 17,464 the preceding week.

The number of initial claims under the two federal pandemic programs is a decrease of 451 from the number filed during the preceding week.

ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 374,106 in the most recent week. This is 6,345 more than the number reported last week.

The ESD press release is posted here.