The declines in Ohio and Texas were “due to the deep freeze that has spread across the country,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, although that does not explain the much larger decline in warmer California.
“Whatever the case, there are always holidays and weather-induced distortions at this time of year in the unemployment benefit claim data, so investors should anticipate an increase in clams over the next two weeks,” he said.
In addition, 451,402 people not qualified for regular state claims, such as freelancers or concert workers, filed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. This number is not seasonally adjusted.
Taken together, the initial claims stood at 1.2 million without seasonal adjustments last week.
“For months, there has been no substantial improvement in the magnitude of total initial orders,” said AnnElizabeth Konkel, contracting lab economist in comments by email. Despite changes in the direction of the claims, the total number of initial orders is still almost six times higher than in the same period last year.
Unemployment benefit applications continued at 4.4 million in the week ending February 13, a slight decrease from the previous week.
In the week ending February 6, more than 19 million Americans received benefits from various government programs. The number of workers receiving aid through the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which provides additional weeks of pay after workers exhaust their regular state benefits, has risen by more than one million to 5.1 million.
“Hopefully, the approaching spring climate and the continuation of vaccines will be an economic boost,” said Konkel.
For states, long-term unemployment for so many people is a growing financial burden. As of Tuesday, some 19 states have lent more than $ 50 billion from the federal government to pay the benefits, according to the US Treasury.
California borrowed $ 19.5 billion, while New York borrowed just under $ 10 billion. Texas lent about $ 6.5 billion.
–Tami Luhby contributed to this story.