Weekly Jobless Claims Continued to Decline in the Week Ending August 14, 2021

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 348,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, August 14, 2021. This is a decrease of 29,000 from the previous week’s revised level and the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020, when it was 256,000.

The 4-week moving average was 377,750, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020, when it was 225,500.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment, known as continuing claims, during the week ending August 7, 2021 was 2,820,000 — a decrease of 79,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level since March 14, 2020, when it was 1,770,000.

The 4-week moving average was 2,998,750 — a decrease of 110,500 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 21, 2020, when it was 2,071,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1% for the week ending August 7th 2021, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate.