Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—February 19, 2015
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending February 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 283,000, a decrease of 21,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 304,000. The 4-week moving average was 283,250, a decrease of 6,500 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 289,750.
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 February 7, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 7 was 2,425,000, an increase of 58,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 13,000 from 2,354,000 to 2,367,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,398,000, a decrease of 9,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 3,500 from 2,404,000 to 2,407,500.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 278,986 in the week ending February 14, a decrease of 45,213 (or -13.9 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 24,353 (or -7.5 percent) from the previous week. There were 322,761 initial claims in the comparable week in 2014.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent during the week ending February 7, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,813,487, an increase of 17,515 (or 0.6 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 49,717 (or -1.8 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 2.6 percent and the volume was 3,411,217.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending January 31 was 2,854,293, a decrease of 31,699 from the previous week. There were 3,512,470 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 January 31. Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,001 in the week ending February 7, a decrease of 124 from the prior week. There were 1,769 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 248 from the preceding week.
There were 17,120 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending January 31, a decrease of 629 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 23,631, a decrease of 1,130 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending January 31 were in Alaska (4.5), New Jersey (3.7), Connecticut (3.5), Massachusetts (3.3), Pennsylvania (3.3), Rhode Island (3.3), Montana (3.2), Puerto Rico (3.1), Illinois (2.9), West Virginia (2.9), and Wisconsin (2.9).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending February 7 were in New York (+4,205), Texas (+2,437), California (+2,333), Pennsylvania (+1,998), and New Jersey (+1,536), while the largest decreases were in Georgia (-1,672), Tennessee (-491), Maryland (-484), Indiana (-341), and Puerto Rico (-295).
Source: dol.gov
