Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–March 6, 2014.
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending March 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 323,000, a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 349,000. The 4-week moving average was 336,500, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 338,500.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent for the week ending February 22, unchanged from the prior week’s revised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 22 was 2,907,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 2,915,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,927,750, a decrease of 14,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 2,942,500.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 317,183 in the week ending March 1, an increase of 5,702 from the previous week. There were 335,680 initial claims in the comparable week in 2013.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent during the week ending February 22, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,380,582, an increase of 52,160 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.8 percent and the volume was 3,611,062.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending February 15 was 3,399,445, a decrease of 86,615 from the previous week. There were 5,401,894 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 February 15.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,012 in the week ending February 22, a decrease of 166 from the prior week. There were 1,753 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 77 from the preceding week.
There were 20,811 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending February 15, a decrease of 1,497 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 28,192, a decrease of 1,378 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending February 15 were in Alaska (5.7), Pennsylvania (4.2), New Jersey (4.1), Rhode Island (4.0), Montana (3.7), California (3.6), Wisconsin (3.6), Connecticut (3.5), Illinois (3.5), and Puerto Rico (3.5).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending February 22 were in Georgia (+7,383), Massachusetts (+3,502), South Carolina (+3,320), Connecticut (+1,376), and Alabama (+1,259), while the largest decreases were in California (-4,973), Missouri (-3,642), New York (-3,572), Michigan (-2,322), and Oregon (-1,810).
Source: dol.gov
