Continuing Claims Down; More Than 28 Million Still Receiving Benefits
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 963,000 in the week ending August 8, the first time claims have been below 1 million since the Viral Recession started in mid-March. Claims were down a large 19 percent (228,000) from the previous week (1.191 million, revised up from 1.896 million).
Initial claims have fallen in 17 of the past 19 weeks, and are down 86 percent from their peak of almost 7 million in early May. But they remain far above their pre-pandemic level of around 200,000 per week.
Continuing claims, the total number of people receiving regular unemployment insurance benefits, fell to 15.486 million in the week ending August 1, down 604,000 from the prior week (16.090 million, revised down from 16.107).
Continuing claims have fallen in 10 of the last 12 weeks, and are down 38 percent from their peak of almost 25 million in early May. Continuing claims were around 2 million per week before the crisis in early 2020.
489,000 people applied for unemployment insurance under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program in the week ending August 8 (not seasonally-adjusted), a decline of 167,000 from the prior week. There were 10.7 million total PUA beneficiaries in the week ending July 25, down from 13.0 million the prior week. PUA provides benefits to those who would not normally be eligible for unemployment benefits, such as the self-employed and gig workers.
Overall, there were 28.258 million people receiving some sort of unemployment benefit in the week ending July 25, down from 31.324 million the prior week, but more than 17 times the number receiving benefits during the same week of 2019.
The labor market continues to improve, but unemployment remains a huge problem for the U.S. economy. The number of people filing for unemployment insurance, both regular and PUA benefits, continues to steadily decline as layoffs abate. But job losses remain extremely elevated, far above their pre-pandemic level. It could also be that the expiration of bonus unemployment payments of $600 per week at the end of July has discouraged some potential beneficiaries from applying for UI; the expiration may also encouraged some beneficiaries to leave unemployment and take a job.
But the expiration of benefits has also cut household income by about $75 billion a month, which will cause some consumers to cut back on their spending. President Trump has signed an executive order in an effort to boost benefits, but it is unclear how well that will work. While the extra benefits may have discouraged some of the unemployed from taking a job, the extra spending power was a net positive for the U.S. economy. PNC expects Congress to provide some sort of expanded benefit over the next few weeks, supporting the nascent economic recovery.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 963,000 in the week ending August 8, the first time claims have been below 1 million since the Viral Recession started in mid-March. Claims were down a large 19 percent (228,000) from the previous week (1.191 million, revised up from 1.896 million).
Initial claims have fallen in 17 of the past 19 weeks, and are down 86 percent from their peak of almost 7 million in early May. But they remain far above their pre-pandemic level of around 200,000 per week.
Continuing claims, the total number of people receiving regular unemployment insurance benefits, fell to 15.486 million in the week ending August 1, down 604,000 from the prior week (16.090 million, revised down from 16.107).
Continuing claims have fallen in 10 of the last 12 weeks, and are down 38 percent from their peak of almost 25 million in early May. Continuing claims were around 2 million per week before the crisis in early 2020.
489,000 people applied for unemployment insurance under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program in the week ending August 8 (not seasonally-adjusted), a decline of 167,000 from the prior week. There were 10.7 million total PUA beneficiaries in the week ending July 25, down from 13.0 million the prior week. PUA provides benefits to those who would not normally be eligible for unemployment benefits, such as the self-employed and gig workers.
Overall, there were 28.258 million people receiving some sort of unemployment benefit in the week ending July 25, down from 31.324 million the prior week, but more than 17 times the number receiving benefits during the same week of 2019.
The labor market continues to improve, but unemployment remains a huge problem for the U.S. economy. The number of people filing for unemployment insurance, both regular and PUA benefits, continues to steadily decline as layoffs abate. But job losses remain extremely elevated, far above their pre-pandemic level. It could also be that the expiration of bonus unemployment payments of $600 per week at the end of July has discouraged some potential beneficiaries from applying for UI; the expiration may also encouraged some beneficiaries to leave unemployment and take a job.
But the expiration of benefits has also cut household income by about $75 billion a month, which will cause some consumers to cut back on their spending. President Trump has signed an executive order in an effort to boost benefits, but it is unclear how well that will work. While the extra benefits may have discouraged some of the unemployed from taking a job, the extra spending power was a net positive for the U.S. economy. PNC expects Congress to provide some sort of expanded benefit over the next few weeks, supporting the nascent economic recovery.
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