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Home , March 20, March 6

TRACKING THE COVID-19 ECONOMY WEEKLY LABOR MARKET INFORMATION

Week ending 20, 2021 Unemployment Insurance (UI) Claims for the Three-State Region For the week ending , 2021, workers filed 30,028 initial UI claims (NSA) in our three-state region — fewer than the prior week’s 32,124 (revised), and far below the historic peak of 599,446 for the week ending , 2020. Workers also filed 18,898 initial Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims for the week ending March 20, 2021, in our three states. The PUA program provides benefits for workers who are not eligible for regular UI benefits. Initial UI claims plus initial PUA claims were 48,926 for the week ending March 20. Prior to the pandemic, the 52- week average of initial UI claims was about 24,000 for the week ending , 2020. Compared with the prior week, initial UI claims across our three states: . fell to 1,392 from 1,914 (revised) in Delaware; . fell to 9,404 from 10,272 (revised) in New Jersey; and . fell to 19,232 from 19,938 (revised) in Pennsylvania.

Millions, NSA Millions, NSA 0.7 6

0.6 5 Initial PUA 0.5 4 0.4 Continued PUA 3 0.3 PEUC 2 0.2

0.1 1

0.0 0 3/7 4/18 5/30 7/11 8/22 10/3 11/14 12/26 2/6 3/20 3/7 4/18 5/30 7/11 8/22 10/3 11/14 12/26 2/6 3/20 2020 2021 2020 2021 Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics via Haver Analytics; not seasonally adjusted (NSA) For the week ending , 2021, continued UI claims in our three-state region fell to 406,287 (NSA) — from the prior week’s 425,927 (revised). Workers draw Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) benefits after their regular weeks of UI benefits are exhausted. Compared with the prior week, continued UI claims across our three states: . fell to 12,093 from 12,363 (revised) in Delaware; . fell to 118,791 from 126,305 (revised) in New Jersey; and . fell to 275,403 from 287,259 (revised) in Pennsylvania. For the week ending , workers in the three-state region also filed continued claims in these programs: . 674,731 PUA claims, and . 596,249 PEUC claims. Total continued UI claims for the week ending March 6 were 1.7 million compared with a 52-week average of about 200,000 for the week ending March 14, 2020.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia | Research Department www.philadelphiafed.org TRACKING THE COVID-19 ECONOMY WEEKLY LABOR MARKET INFORMATION

Week ending March 20, 2021 Unemployment Insurance (UI) Claims for the U.S. For the week ending March 20, 2021, workers filed 656,789 initial UI claims (NSA) — fewer than the prior week’s 757,201 (revised). Workers also filed 241,745 initial PUA claims for the week ending March 20 — for a total of 898,534 initial claims. The 52-week average of initial UI claims was about 215,000 for the week ending March 14, 2020. Initial UI claims set a historic peak of 6,211,406 for the week ending 4, 2020. Continued UI claims for the week ending March 13, 2021, fell to 4,217,259 (NSA) from the prior week’s 4,495,832 (revised). The 52-week average of continued UI claims was just 1.7 million for the week ending March 14, 2020. However, for the week ending March 6, 2021, a total of 19.0 million continued claims were filed from all programs, including: . 7.7 million PUA claims, . 5.6 million PEUC claims, and . 1.2 million from the Extended Benefits program and other small programs (not depicted in the graph). Continued UI claims typically fall slowly from recession peaks. During the Great Recession, continued UI claims peaked at 6.5 million and about five years passed before continued UI claims returned to pre-recession levels. Millions, NSA Millions, NSA 7 35 Continued PUA 6 30 Initial 5 25 PEUC 4 20 PUA 3 15

2 10

1 5

0 0 3/7 4/18 5/30 7/11 8/22 10/3 11/14 12/26 2/6 3/20 3/7 4/18 5/30 7/11 8/22 10/3 11/14 12/26 2/6 3/20 2020 2021 2020 2021 Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics via Haver Analytics; not seasonally adjusted (NSA)

Notes: PEUC and PUA claims data for any given week may include backdated claims from prior weeks. Thus, observed trends may not reflect economic trends. Source: Initial and continued (UI) claims are gathered by individual states and are typically released on Thursday mornings at 8:30 a.m. by the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia | Research Department www.philadelphiafed.org TRACKING THE COVID-19 ECONOMY WEEKLY LABOR MARKET INFORMATION

Week ending March 14, 2021 ASA Weekly Staffing Index The ASA Weekly Staffing Index edged up to 94.9 for the week ending March 14, 2021. Other than seasonal drops, the index has tended to rise since hitting a low of 59.6 for the week ending , 2020. However, the sudden, sharp rise for the week ending 28 appears to be an anomaly — a pattern not seen other than during holiday rebounds following the Fourth of , Thanksgiving, and year-end. The year-over-year change in this index was 11.2 percent for the week ending March 14, 2021. The index was 2.3 percent above the 2019 index for the comparable week and 0.4 percent above the comparable week in 2018 — the year with the highest annual average index. The index grew more slowly in 2019 than in 2018 — which may have represented a supply-side constraint as the labor market tightened, rather than a slowdown in demand. Index, 2006=100 110 2018 100

90 2019 80 2021 2020 70

60

50 Jan Apr Jul Oct Note: This index is highly seasonal (see below). To aid visual comparisons, the upper chart depicts 52 weeks for key years.

Index, 2006=100 110 90 70 50 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021

Source: American Staffing Association via Haver Analytics

Sources: The ASA Staffing Index tracks weekly changes in temporary and contract employment and is typically released on Tuesday mornings. The index is generated from a survey of U.S. staffing firms by the American Staffing Association. americanstaffing.net/staffing-index americanstaffing.net/index

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia | Research Department www.philadelphiafed.org