Oklahoma workers filed half as many first-time unemployment claims last week as the prior week, while continued claims resumed their downward trend after a one-week upswing, according to a government report released Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported that 1,761 Oklahoma workers filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits the week ending Saturday, a nearly 50% decline from the prior seven-day period, when a revised figure of 3,442 workers filed claims.
The 1,761 total for the week is the second fewest number of initial claims recorded in a one-week period since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lowest unrevised total since the week ending Sept. 25, when an initial report of 1,715 claims was later revised upward to 2,090 claims.
Likewise, the four-week moving average of initial claims increased for the second consecutive week from 2,258 to 2,596.
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Meanwhile, continued claims, those filed after one week of unemployment, declined to 14,477, their lowest level during the pandemic.
Continued claims declined nearly 15% last week from the revised total of 16,938 for the prior week.
The four-week moving average of continued claims declined for the 15th consecutive week from 17,446 to 16,434.
Commenting on claims filed the week ending Oct. 23, Oklahoma Employment Security Commission Executive Director Shelley Zumwalt said October claims tend to be higher than September’s.
“Last week, we saw the continued claims four-week moving average decline for the 14th consecutive week, while initial and continued claims increased, which is consistent with historical seasonal patterns,” Zumwalt said.
“Unemployment insurance claims data is not seasonally adjusted, so in addition to cyclical trends, we often see seasonal patterns. One pattern that we have seen consistently over time is that initial claims tend to be higher in October compared to the prior month.”
Nationally, a seasonally adjusted 269,000 initial claims were filed the week ending Saturday, the fewest since 256,000 were recorded March 14, 2020, when the pandemic began to surge.
About half of the states, including Oklahoma, saw a decline in initial claims last week when compared to the prior week.
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