On Thursday, January 21,The Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development released unemployment statistics for the week ending January 16. The report shows an 18% decrease in initial claims for regular UI but little difference in continued claims.
Since March 15, individuals filed 1,831,832 initial claims for regular UI.
Massachusetts residents filed 25,485 initial claims for regular Unemployment Insurance [UI] from January 10 to January 16, 5,608 fewer than the previous week. The decrease distributed across all industry sectors.
Individuals filed 164,742 continued claims during the same week, 85 less than the previous week.
Residents filed 6,351 initial claims for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance [PUA] program, 1,681 more than the previous week.
PUA continued claims jumped to 515,913 during the same week, up 258,422, due to the Continued Assistance Act which extended PUA eleven more weeks effective January 2.
Residents filed 913,358 initial claims for PUA since April 20.
The Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation [PEUC], which provided up to 13 weeks of extended benefits, saw 7,196 initial claims during the same week, a decrease of 2,934 compared to the previous week. Since implementation, PEUC filings now total 382,305.
The Extended Benefits [EB], funded by federal and state sources, ended the same week with 14,788 initial claims filed. Since September 6, when the first EB claims were filed, 524,529 have filed an initial claim.