Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—February 18, 2016
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending February 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 262,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 269,000. The 4-week moving average was 273,250, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 281,250.
There were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.7 percent for the week ending February 6, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 6 was 2,273,000, an increase of 30,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 4,000 from 2,239,000 to 2,243,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,262,500, an increase of 13,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,000 from 2,248,000 to 2,249,000.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 258,264 in the week ending February 13, a decrease of 32,227 (or -11.1 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 25,260 (or -8.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 277,904 initial claims in the comparable week in 2015.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent during the week ending February 6, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,659,926, a decrease of 11,139 (or -0.4 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 47,097 (or -1.8 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 2.1 percent and the volume was 2,809,933. The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending January 30 was 2,720,405, a decrease of 19,128 from the previous week. There were 2,854,278 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2015.
No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending January 30.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 838 in the week ending February 6, a decrease of 184 from the prior week. There were 1,267 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 87 from the preceding week.
There were 13,966 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending January 30, a decrease of 1,267 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 15,733, a decrease of 571 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending January 30 were in Alaska (4.7), West Virginia (3.7), New Jersey (3.4), Montana (3.3), Pennsylvania (3.3), Connecticut (3.0), Wyoming (3.0), Illinois (2.9), Puerto Rico (2.9), and Rhode Island (2.9).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending February 6 were in Texas (+1,674), Rhode Island (+783), Florida (+419), Michigan (+385), and Virginia (+370), while the largest decreases were in Illinois (-5,503), Tennessee (-3,067), Pennsylvania (-2,284), Maryland (-1,911), and Ohio (-1,695).
Source: http://www.dol.gov
