Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—January 5, 2017
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending December 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 235,000, a decrease of 28,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 2,000 from 265,000 to 263,000. The 4-week moving average was 256,750, a decrease of 5,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 500 from 263,000 to 262,500.
There were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims. This marks 96 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 24, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 24 was 2,112,000, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 6,000 from 2,102,000 to 2,096,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,067,000, an increase of 26,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 1,500 from 2,042,250 to 2,040,750.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 348,039 in the week ending December 31, an increase of 9,991 (or 3.0 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 51,339 (or 15.2 percent) from the previous week. There were 405,368 initial claims in the comparable week in 2016.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.6 percent during the week ending December 24, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,249,628, an increase of 147,353 (or 7.0 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 129,951 (or 6.2 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.8 percent and the volume was 2,502,457.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending December 17 was 2,144,791, an increase of 4,326 from the previous week. There were 2,236,016 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 December 17.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,020 in the week ending December 24, a decrease of 293 from the prior week. There were 772 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 175 from the preceding week.
There were 11,889 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending December 17, a decrease of 2,177 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 12,516, a decrease of 734 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending December 17 were in Alaska (4.2), Montana (2.7), New Jersey (2.5), California (2.3), Connecticut (2.3), Illinois (2.2), Minnesota (2.2), Pennsylvania (2.2), and Puerto Rico (2.2).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending December 24 were in Kentucky (+4,582), New York (+3,557), Missouri (+3,181), New Jersey (+2,588), and California (+2,557), while the largest decreases were in Illinois (-2,915), Virginia (-2,281), Texas (-1,875), Florida (-1,143), and Minnesota (-659).
Source: www.dol.gov
