Weekly Jobless Claims Increase in the Week Ending August 21, 2021

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 353,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, August 21, 2021. This is an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The 4-week moving average was 366,500 — a decrease of 11,500 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 14, 2021 was 2,862,000 — a decrease of 3,000 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 2,901,500 — a decrease of 108,500 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 21st, 2020, when it was 2,071,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1% for the week ending August 14, 2021, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate.