National

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report for Week Ending January 7, 2012


Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–January 12, 2012. 

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending January 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 399,000, an increase of 24,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 375,000. The 4-week moving average was 381,750, an increase of 7,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 374,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.9 percent for the week ending December 31, unchanged from the prior week’s revised rate.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 31, was 3,628,000, an increase of 19,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,609,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,605,000, unchanged from the preceding week’s revised average.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 642,381 in the week ending January 7, an increase of 102,314 from the previous week. There were 773,499 initial claims in the comparable week in 2011.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.3 percent during the week ending December 31, an increase of 0.3 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,139,988, an increase of 360,884 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 3.8 percent and the volume was 4,790,155.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending December 24 was 7,333,213, an increase of 111,010 from the previous week.

Extended benefits were available in Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin during the week ending December 24.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,640 in the week ending December 31, a decrease of 452 from the prior week. There were 1,896 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 436 from the preceding week.

There were 29,868 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending December 24, a decrease of 909 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 42,096, a decrease of 256 from the prior week.

States reported 2,926,676 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending December 24, a decrease of 5,885 from the prior week. There were 3,773,092 claimants in the comparable week in 2011. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending December 24 were in Alaska (7.4), Oregon (4.5), Idaho (4.1), Montana (4.1), Pennsylvania (4.1), Puerto Rico (4.1), Wisconsin (4.1), Nevada (3.8), New Jersey (3.8), Arkansas (3.7), Illinois (3.7), Michigan (3.7), and Rhode Island (3.7).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending December 31 were in Michigan (+10,364), Wisconsin (+10,203), Pennsylvania (+8,135), New Jersey (+7,989), and New York (+7,746) while the largest decreases were in California (-23,969), Illinois (-4,696), Texas (-2,385), Nevada (-1,590), and Kansas (-1,341). 

Source: labor.gov


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