Weekly Jobless Claims Decline in the Week Ending August 28, 2021

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 340,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, August 28, 2021. This is a decrease of 14,000 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 355,000 — a decrease of 11,750 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 21, 2021 was 2,748,000 — a decrease of 160,000 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 2,855,000 — a decrease of 58,000 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 2.0% for the week ending August 21, 2021 — a decrease of -0.1% from the previous week’s unrevised rate.