Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—May 1, 2014.
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending April 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 344,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 1,000 from 329,000 to 330,000. The 4-week moving average was 320,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 250 from 316,750 to 317,000.
There were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent for the week ending April 19, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate of 2.0 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 19 was 2,771,000, an increase of 97,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 6,000 from 2,680,000 to 2,674,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,734,000, a decrease of 16,750 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since December 29, 2007 when it was 2,730,250. The previous week’s average was revised down by 1,500 from 2,752,250 to 2,750,750.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 317,184 in the week ending April 26, an increase of 18,002 (or 6.0 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 5,284 (or 1.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 301,622 initial claims in the comparable week in 2013.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent during the week ending April 19, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,776,672, an increase of 19,294 (or 0.7 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 77,560 (or -2.8 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 2.3 percent and the volume was 3,020,992.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending April 12 was 2,822,340, a decrease of 99,855 from the previous week. There were 4,956,474 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 April 12.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 949 in the week ending April 19, a decrease of 289 from the prior week. There were 1,489 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 187 from the preceding week.
There were 15,115 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 12, decrease of 905 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 26,058, a decrease of 9 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 12 were in Alaska (4.6), New Jersey 3.3), California (3.2), Puerto Rico (3.2), Pennsylvania (3.1), Connecticut (3.0), Illinois (2.9), Michigan (2.8), Nevada (2.8), and Rhode Island (2.8).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 19 were in New Jersey (+4,652), Connecticut (+2,073), Maryland (+998), Nevada (+402), and Vermont (+202), while the largest decreases were in Texas (-3,118), California (-2,887), Pennsylvania (-2,738), New York (-1,740), and Indiana (-1,577).
Source: dol.gov
