Unemployment weekly claims report virtually unchanged

In the week ending January 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 326,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 325,000. The 4-week moving average was 331,500, a decrease of 3,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 335,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent for the week ending January 11, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 11 was 3,056,000, an increase of 34,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,022,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,939,000, an increase of 31,000 from the preceding week’s revised average of 2,908,000.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 411,678 in the week ending January 18, a decrease of 121,020 from the previous week. There were 436,955 initial claims in the comparable week in 2013.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.8 percent during the week ending January 11, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,563,268, a decrease of 65,558 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.9 percent and the volume was 3,711,100.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending January 4 was 3,706,087, a decrease of 1,003,734 from the previous week. There were 5,659,482 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2013.

No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending January 4.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,227 in the week ending January 11, an increase of 661 from the prior week. There were 2,449 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 704 from the preceding week.

There were 23,306 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending January 4, an increase of 466 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 31,591, an increase of 567 from the prior week.

The Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program expired on January 1, 2014, and under current law no EUC payments will be made for weeks of unemployment after this date.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending January 11 were in Alaska (5.8), Puerto Rico (4.9), Pennsylvania (4.5), Connecticut (4.4), New Jersey (4.4), Michigan (3.8), Montana (3.8), Wisconsin (3.8), Rhode Island (3.6), California (3.5), Illinois (3.5), and Massachusetts (3.5).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 11 were in Texas (+12,800), California (+8,319), Pennsylvania (+7,107), Indiana (+6,622), and Florida (+5,790), while the largest decreases were in New York (-18,019), Georgia (-7,278), Alabama (-2,639), Wisconsin (-2,577), and South Carolina (-1,810).

 UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DATA FOR REGULAR STATE PROGRAMS