Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—February 12, 2015.
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending February 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 304,000, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 1,000 from 278,000 to 279,000. The 4-week moving average was 289,750, a decrease of 3,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 250 from 292,750 to 293,000. 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 January 31, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 31 was 2,354,000, a decrease of 51,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 5,000 from 2,400,000 to 2,405,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,404,000, a decrease of 18,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,250 from 2,421,250 to 2,422,500.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 323,672 in the week ending February 7, an increase of 17,061 (or 5.6 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 9,215 (or -3.0 percent) from the previous week. There were 360,338 initial claims in the comparable week in 2014. The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent during the week ending January 31, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,780,264, a decrease of 45,511 (or -1.6 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 14,429 (or 0.5 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 2.6 percent and the volume was 3,440,027.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending January 24 was 2,884,119, an increase of 44,284 from the previous week. There were 3,497,108 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 24. Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,131 in the week ending January 31, a decrease of 58 from the prior week. There were 1,510 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 11 from the preceding week.
There were 17,741 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending January 24, an increase of 762 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 24,735, an increase of 783 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending January 24 were in Alaska (4.7), New Jersey (3.6), Connecticut (3.3), Montana (3.3), Massachusetts (3.2), Pennsylvania (3.2), California (3.1), Puerto Rico (3.1), Rhode Island (3.1), Illinois (3.0), Wisconsin (2.9), and West Virginia (2.8).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 31 were in California (+18,068), Pennsylvania (+1,507), Georgia (+1,078), Michigan (+1,055), and Ohio (+1,051), while the largest decreases were in New Jersey (-1,608), Rhode Island (-988), Virginia (-522), Tennessee (-383), and Nebraska (-294).
Source: dol.gov
