U.S. Unemployment Claims Fall To Lowest Since Pandemic

Unemployment claims in the United States fell in the previous week to the lowest level since the pandemic started, data from the DOL showed.

• Seasonally adjusted initial claims were recorded at 547,000 in the week ending April 17, the lowest level since March 14, 2020 at 256,000.
• The latest claims is 39,000 less than the previous week’s revised level of 586,000, also the lowest for the average since March 14, 2020 when it was 225,500.
• The advanced number of actual initial claims for the week ending April 17 fell 56,554 or 9.1% to 566,479 from the previous week, higher than the expected drop of 17,548 or 2.8%. 
• For the week ending April 10, the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6%. Insured unemployment for the week fell 34,000 to 3.674 million.
• The unadjusted insured unemployment rate for the same week was 2.8%, bringing the level down 1.3% to 3.862 million.
• The biggest gains in initial claims for the same week were in New York, Florida, Alabama, Washington, and Georgia. Meanwhile, the biggest drops were in California, Virginia, Ohio, Texas, and Kentucky.