Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—August 20, 2015
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending August 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 277,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 1,000 from 274,000 to 273,000. The 4-week moving average was 271,500, an increase of 5,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 250 from 266,250 to 266,000.
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 August 8, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 8 was 2,254,000, a decrease of 24,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 5,000 from 2,273,000 to 2,278,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,265,000, an increase of 9,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,250 from 2,254,250 to 2,255,500.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 229,674 in the week ending August 15, a decrease of 9,652 (or -4.0 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 13,114 (or -5.5 percent) from the previous week. There were 249,463 initial claims in the comparable week in 2014. The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.6 percent during the week ending August 8, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,159,088, a decrease of 50,889 (or -2.3 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 27,340 (or -1.2 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.8 percent and the volume was 2,412,394.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending August 1 was 2,254,785, a decrease of 5,632 from the previous week. There were 2,517,465 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2014.
No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending August 1.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 821 in the week ending August 8, a decrease of 27 from the prior week. There were 1,568 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 261 from the preceding week.
There were 10,652 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending August 1, a decrease of 125 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 17,962, a decrease of 430 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending August 1 were in Puerto Rico (3.9), New Jersey (3.0), Connecticut (2.6), Pennsylvania (2.6), California (2.4), Alaska (2.3), Nevada (2.2), Rhode Island (2.2), Massachusetts (2.1), the Virgin Islands (2.1), and West Virginia (2.1).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending August 8 were in California (+2,498), Illinois (+2,042), New York (+1,554), Pennsylvania (+1,035), and Puerto Rico (+920), while the largest decreases were in Virginia (-329), Kansas (-236), Florida (-182), Indiana (-116), and Rhode Island (-53).
Source: www.dol.gov
