Weekly jobless claims fell slightly for the week ending June 19, according to the latest data from the Department of Labor (DOL)
- Seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 411,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The 4-week moving average was 397,750, an increase of 1,500 from the previous week’s revised average
Regionally, the changes at the state level for the week were mixed…
- The states with the largest increases were in Pennsylvania (+21,905), California (+15,131), Kentucky (+9,172), Florida (+3,344), and Texas (+3,127).
- The states with the largest decreases were in Michigan (-5,615), Delaware (-2,516), Washington (-1,998), Tennessee (-1,746), and Alabama (-1,706).
The news was even better when looking at overall unemployment during the week ending June 12.
- The seasonally adjusted rate was 3,390,000, a decrease of 144,000 from the previous week’s revised
level. This was the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 21, 2020.
- The 4-week moving average was 3,552,500, a decrease of 55,250 from the previous week’s revised average. This was also the lowest level for this average since March 21, 2020.
Great news that we are seeing claims drop to pre-pandemic lows. However, it is still concerning that we aren’t seeing these numbers drop faster especially when we have a record number of job openings.