Unemployment Insurance Claims Hit Record Low

Tight US labor markets saw themselves reflected in record low claims of unemployment insurance in November.  The number of seasonally adjusted initial claims was 199,000 in the week ending November 20th, a low last surpassed in November 1969.

Initial claims were down 21,000 from the previous week’s average.

The highest insured employment rates in the week ending November 6^th were 3% in the Virgin Islands, 2.7% in Alaska, the District of Colombia and Puerto Rico and 2.6% in California.

The largest increases in initial claims were in California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. The Department of Labor also noted that there were 335,000 continued weekly claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits a decline of 456,000 from October.

In 2020 21.1 million Americans claimed unemployment insurance benefits.

(By Staff)