Polly Wooldridge
From Your President of The Lynchburg REALTORS ® Association
RAW COUNT OF NEW JOBLESS CLAIMS ROSE LAST WEEK
The number of Americans applying for new jobless claims dropped slightly last week by 3,000 to 787,000 . This figure is seasonally adjusted and is typically reported in the news . Nearly all economic data – from GDP and employment to consumer price inflation – are seasonally adjusted to account for regular events we can anticipate that have an effect on data around the same time each year .
However , on an unadjusted basis , new jobless claims rose by 77,400 to 922,072 last week . In the meantime , continued claims , which measure the number of people receiving checks for regular unemployment benefits , also rose to nearly 5.4 million . This increase was expected as there was uncertainty about the extension of unemployment benefits and the resurgence of COVID cases . According to another important indicator , payroll employment in December declined by 140,000 while the unemployment rate was unchanged .
The National Association of REALTORS ® closely monitors the weekly claims for unemployment insurance provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics . Since this data is also released for each state , we track the jobless claims activity at the state level . This state-level data report is a very important indicator to watch at economic turning points because it provides detail on what is happening week by week , rather than each month or quarter .
Twelve states reported a decrease in new claims for the week ending January 2 . Taking a closer look at the percentage change of the last week ’ s new claims with the new claims of the previous week , Illinois ( -57 %) had the largest drop in layoffs followed by Maryland ( -22 %) and Alaska ( -20 %). In contrast , unadjusted advance claims increased in Louisiana , South Carolina , and Virginia . Particularly compared to the previous week , initial claims increased by 173 % in Louisiana ; 116 % in South Carolina ; 112 % in Virginia .
Moreover , the current release provides information about people filing new and total Pandemic Unemployment Assistance ( PUA ). Specifically , the PUA is for the self-employed and others who do not qualify for the regular state unemployment programs . Among 50 states , nearly 8.4 million people received benefits in the week ending December 19 using the federal government ’ s PUA program . New York , Massachusetts , and Hawaii had the most people receiving PUA benefits . Specifically , 13 % of the labor force in New York received PUA benefits in the week ending December 19 followed by Massachusetts ( 11 %) and Hawaii ( 11 %).
Finally , more people applied for extended benefits last week . After exhausting the 26 weeks of regular benefits that typically the states provide to their residents , people are able to apply for longer-term unemployment benefits ( up to 13 additional weeks ) with the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation ( PEUC ). Nearly 293,400 fewer Americans applied a new claim for PEUC in the week ending December 19 compared to the previous week . South Carolina , Kentucky , and Maryland were the states with the highest increase of people applying for PEUC within a week . In South Carolina , the number of new PEUC applicants rose 50 % compared to a week earlier . However , fewer people applied for longer-term benefits in North Dakota ( -21 %), South Dakota ( -21 %), and Wisconsin ( -16 %) during the same period .
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