by Bruce Walker
New unemployment claims in Michigan dropped last week by 5,380 from the prior week ending Aug. 1.
For the week ending Aug. 8, 14,462 new unemployment claims were registered, compared to 19,842 new claims the week ending Aug. 1.
However, fewer Michigan workers are dropping off the unemployment rolls. Advance unemployment claims for the week ending Aug. 8 stood at 522,491, which is 7,655 more claims than the prior week’s 514,836 claims.
Nationwide, seasonally adjusted initial claims dropped 228,000 in the week ending Aug. 8, which brings the total number of new claims to 963,000. The Aug. 8 initial claims is the lowest number of new claims since March, when government-mandated restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19 opened the floodgates for nearly 56 million unemployed Americans.
The 4-week national moving average the week ending Aug. 8 was 1,252,750 initial claims, a decrease of 86,250 claims from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,250 from 1,337,750 to 1,339,000.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending July 25 were in Nevada (23.6), Hawaii (21.1), Puerto Rico (19.1), Louisiana (17.3), New York (16.5), California (16.0), Connecticut (15.3), Georgia (14.4), Massachusetts (14.3), and Rhode Island (12.7).
The largest increase in initial claims for the week ending August 1 was in Rhode Island (+87), while the largest decreases were in California (-22,610), Virginia (-19,048), Texas (-14,095), Florida (-13,176), and New Jersey (-11,489).
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Bruce Walker is a regional editor at The Center Square. He previously worked as editor at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s MichiganScience magazine and The Heartland Institute’s InfoTech & Telecom News.
