The drops in Ohio and Texas were “due to the freezer settling across the country,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, although that didn’t explain the much greater decline in warmer California.
“Regardless, there are always holiday and weather disruptions in unemployment benefit data this time of year, so investors should anticipate an increase in shellfish numbers over the next two weeks,” he said.
In addition, 451,402 people who were not eligible for regular state claims, such as self-employed or handy workers, applied for pandemic unemployment assistance. This number has not been seasonally adjusted.
Added together, the first claims last week were 1.2 million without seasonal adjustments.
“For months, there has been no substantial improvement in the size of total initial claims,” said Indeed Hiring Lab economist AnnElizabeth Konkel in an email response. Despite the direction changing, the number of first applications is still almost six times higher than in the same period last year.
Continued claims for unemployment benefits were 4.4 million in the week ending February 13, a slight decrease from the week before.
In the week ending February 6, more than 19 million Americans received benefits under various government programs. The number of workers receiving assistance through the Pandemic Emergency Un Employment Compensation Program, which provides for additional weeks of benefits after employees exhaust their regular government benefits, has increased by more than one million to 5.1 million.
“Hopefully the coming spring weather and continued vaccinations will provide an economic boost,” Konkel said.
For states, the long-term unemployment of so many people is a growing financial burden. As of Tuesday, about 19 states have borrowed more than $ 50 billion from the federal government to pay benefits, according to the U.S. Treasury.
California borrowed $ 19.5 billion, while New York borrowed just under $ 10 billion. Texas has borrowed about $ 6.5 billion.
–Tami Luhby contributed to this story.