Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—September 4, 2014.
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending August 30, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 302,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 298,000. The 4-week moving average was 302,750, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 299,750. There were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending August 23, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 23 was 2,464,000, a decrease of 64,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since June 16, 2007 when it was 2,453,000. The previous week’s level was revised up 1,000 from 2,527,000 to 2,528,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,510,750, a decrease of 13,750 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since July 7, 2007 when it was 2,509,250. The previous week’s average was revised up by 250 from 2,524,250 to 2,524,500.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 248,570 in the week ending August 30, a decrease of 317 (or -0.1 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 3,581 (or -1.4 percent) from the previous week. There were 269,359 initial claims in the comparable week in 2013. The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.7 percent during the week ending August 23, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,306,286, a decrease of 95,339 (or -4.0 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 35,392 (or -1.5 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 2.1 percent and the volume was 2,737,229.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending August 16 was 2,455,404, a decrease of 11,387 from the previous week. There were 4,388,758 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 August 16.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,548 in the week ending August 23, an increase of 535 from the prior week. There were 1,978 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 6 from the preceding week.
There were 14,401 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending August 16, a decrease of 1,014 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 24,584, an increase of 54 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending August 16 were in Puerto Rico (4.0), New Jersey (3.3), Alaska (3.1), Connecticut (3.1), Pennsylvania (2.8), California (2.7), Rhode Island (2.7), Massachusetts (2.5), and Nevada (2.5).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending August 23 were in New York (+2,560), Michigan (+1,845), California (+867), Illinois (+613), and Texas (+308), while the largest decreases were in Georgia (-1,369), Massachusetts (-1,283), Pennsylvania (-1,031), Iowa (-1,016), and Alabama (-689).
Source: dol.gov
