Weekly Jobless Claims Move Lower in the Week Ending May 7, 2022

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 203,000 Americans (seasonally adjusted) made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, May 7, 2022. This is an increase of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The 4-week moving average was 192,750, an increase of 4,250 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment (known as continuing claims) during the week ending April 30, 2022, was 1,343,000—a decrease of 44,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since January 3, 1970, when it was 1,332,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,385,000—a decrease of 32,750 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since January 31, 1970, when it was 1,374,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.0% for the week ending April 30, 2022, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate.