National

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report for Week Ending Dec. 20, 2014


Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—December 26, 2014.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending December 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 280,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 289,000. The 4-week moving average was 290,250, a decrease of 8,500 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 298,750.

There were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent for the week ending December 13, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 13 was 2,403,000, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 5,000 from 2,373,000 to 2,378,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,418,250, an increase of 20,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,250 from 2,397,000 to 2,398,250.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 340,124 in the week ending December 20, an increase of 12,297 (or 3.8 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 23,148 (or 7.1 percent) from the previous week. There were 18,272 initial claims in the comparable week in 2013.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent during the week ending December 13, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,474,968, an increase of 120,435 (or 5.1 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 95,133 (or 4.0 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 2.3 percent and the volume was 3,004,483.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending December 6 was 2,413,615, a decrease of 163,041 from the previous week. There were 4,288,629 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 December 6. Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,331 in the week ending December 13, a decrease of 548 from the prior week. There were 1,752 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 266 from the preceding week.

There were 16,828 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending December 6, a decrease of 1,773 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 25,122, a decrease of 1,532 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending December 6 were in Alaska (4.2), Puerto Rico (3.1), New Jersey (3.0), Montana (2.7), Pennsylvania (2.7), Connecticut (2.6), Nevada (2.6), California (2.5), Massachusetts (2.4), and West Virginia (2.4).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending December 13 were in California (+11,794), Massachusetts (+443), Utah (+277), Rhode Island (+35), and Maine (+25), while the largest decreases were in Pennsylvania (-10,937), New York (-9,787), Wisconsin (-6,465), Georgia (-5,520), and Texas (-3,982).

Source: dol.gov


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