US unemployment claims drop after change to seasonal adjustments

Initial jobless claims in state programmes totalled 881,000 in the week ended August 29, official records show

Unemployed residents in Kentucky wait in long lines outside the Kentucky Career Centre for help with their unemployment claims. US jobless claims fell for the week ending August 29. Getty Images/AFP FShow more

Applications for regular US unemployment benefits fell last week, reflecting a change to seasonal adjustments that are normally designed to smooth regular swings in the data but ended up distorting figures because of the pandemic.

Initial jobless claims in state programmes totalled 881,000 in the week ended August 29, according to Labour Department data on Thursday. That follows 1.01 million in the prior week, a figure that’s not directly comparable because of a change to seasonal adjustment methodology.

On an unadjusted basis – or before any seasonal adjustments –claims rose by 7,591 to 833,352 last week, led by a 39,958 increase in California. Applications under the separate federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance programme – which targets the self-employed, gig workers and others who don’t typically qualify for state programmes –jumped by about 152,000 to 759,000.

Unadjusted continuing claims fell by about 765,000 to 13.1 million.

The report reinforces the picture of a labour market that’s gradually improving while remaining depressed compared with before the pandemic. Just on Wednesday, United Airlines and Ford Motor announced layoffs, adding to news of hundreds of thousands of job cuts from major companies in recent weeks.

New Covid-19 infections still number in the hundreds of thousands a week, a figure that while lower than in July, indicates that it will be a while before Americans return in larger numbers to travelling and eating out.