Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—December 15, 2016
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending December 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 254,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 258,000. The 4-week moving average was 257,750, an increase of 5,250 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 252,500.
There were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims. This marks 93 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000, the longest streak since 1970.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.5 percent for the week ending December 3, unchanged from the previous week’s revised rate. The previous week’s rate was revised up by 0.1 from 1.4 to 1.5 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 3 was 2,018,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 2,000 from 2,005,000 to 2,007,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,038,000, an increase of 8,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 500 from 2,028,750 to 2,029,250.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 305,100 in the week ending December 10, a decrease of 47,434 (or -13.5 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 43,036 (or -12.2 percent) from the previous week. There were 313,276 initial claims in the comparable week in 2015.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.4 percent during the week ending December 3, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 1,993,398, a decrease of 77,973 (or -3.8 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 88,314 (or -4.3 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.6 percent and the volume was 2,206,522.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending November 26 was 2,117,437, an increase of 331,537 from the previous week. There were 2,353,792 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 November 26.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,592 in the week ending December 3, an increase of 683 from the prior week. There were 1,135 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 551 from the preceding week.
There were 16,079 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending November 26, an increase of 4,539 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 13,509, an increase of 1,473 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending November 26 were in Alaska (4.5), Puerto Rico (2.7), New Jersey (2.5), California (2.4), Montana (2.3), the Virgin Islands (2.3), Connecticut (2.2), West Virginia (2.2), Pennsylvania (2.1), Wyoming (2.1), and Nevada (2.0).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending December 3 were in New York (+15,066), Pennsylvania (+11,873), California (+11,480), Texas (+9,317), and Georgia (+5,687), while the largest decreases were in Vermont (-202), Nebraska (-71), North Dakota (-51), and Kansas (-2).
Source: www.dol.gov
