Analysis, National

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report for Week Ending January 7, 2017


Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—January 12, 2017

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending January 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 247,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 2,000 from 235,000 to 237,000. The 4-week moving average was 256,500, a decrease of 1,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,500 from 256,750 to 258,250.

There were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims. This marks 97 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 31, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 31 was 2,087,000, a decrease of 29,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 4,000 from 2,112,000 to 2,116,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,086,750, an increase of 16,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 3,250 from 2,067,000 to 2,070,250.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 409,869 in the week ending January 7, an increase of 59,308 (or 16.9 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 42,665 (or 12.2 percent) from the previous week. There were 502,904 initial claims in the comparable week in 2016. The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent during the week ending December 31, an increase of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,460,929, an increase of 207,386 (or 9.2 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 241,224 (or 10.7 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 2.1 percent and the volume was 2,803,326. The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending December 24 was 2,294,430, an increase of 140,578 from the previous week. There were 2,549,075 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 24.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,002 in the week ending December 31, a decrease of 32 from the prior week. There were 675 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 105 from the preceding week.

There were 14,165 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending December 24, an increase of 2,189 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 12,695, an increase of 29 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending December 24 were in Alaska (4.8), Montana (2.8), New Jersey (2.6), Puerto Rico (2.6), Connecticut (2.4), Illinois (2.4), Pennsylvania (2.4), Massachusetts (2.3), Minnesota (2.3), California (2.2), and Wyoming (2.2).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending December 31 were in New Jersey (+8,222), Pennsylvania (+4,448), Michigan (+3,964), Connecticut (+3,304), and Massachusetts (+3,020), while the largest decreases were in California (-14,836), Illinois (-2,347), Texas (-2,005), Washington (-1,308), and Kansas (-1,040).

Source: www.dol.gov

 


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