Weekly Jobless Claims Decline in the Week Ending October 2, 2021

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 326,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, October 2, 2021. This is a decrease of 38,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level. The 4-week moving average was 344,000, an increase of 3,500 from the previous week’s unrevised average.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment (known as continuing claims) during the week ending September 25, 2021 was 2,714,000 — a decrease of 97,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 14, 2020, when it was 1,770,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,765,000 — a decrease of 34,500 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 2.0% for the week ending September 25, 2021. This is a decrease of -0.1% from the previous week’s revised rate.