National

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report for Week Ending March 23, 2013


Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–March 28, 2013.

Note: This week’s release reflects the annual revision to the weekly unemployment claims seasonal adjustment factors. The seasonal adjustment factors used for the UI Weekly Claims data from 2008 forward, along with the resulting seasonally adjusted values for initial claims and continuing claims, have been revised.  

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending March 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 357,000, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 341,000. The 4-week moving average was 343,000, an increase of 2,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 340,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.4 percent for the week ending March 16, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 16 was 3,050,000, a decrease of 27,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,077,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,072,500, a decrease of 13,000 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,085,500.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 315,657 in the week ending March 23, an increase of 14,706 from the previous week. There were 323,373 initial claims in the comparable week in 2012.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent during the week ending March 16, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,379,090, a decrease of 82,403 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,461,493. A year earlier, the rate was 2.9 percent and the volume was 3,699,473.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending March 9 was 5,455,757, an increase of 86,750 from the previous week. There were 7,158,470 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2012.

Extended Benefits were available only in Alaska during the week ending March 9.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,176 in the week ending March 16, an increase of 99 from the prior week. There were 2,270 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 219 from the preceding week.

There were 20,331 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending March 9, a decrease of 386 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 38,323, an increase of 32 from the prior week.

States reported 1,906,324 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending March 9, an increase of 125,481 from the prior week. There were 2,812,666 persons claiming EUC in the comparable week in 2012. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 9 were in Alaska (5.8), Puerto Rico (4.5), Rhode Island (4.1), New Jersey (4.0), Connecticut (3.9), Montana (3.9), Pennsylvania (3.9), Wisconsin (3.8), California (3.7), and Massachusetts (3.7).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 16 were in California (+3,007), Virginia (+1,165), Mississippi (+485), North Dakota (+54), and Puerto Rico (+38), while the largest decreases were in Pennsylvania (-2,497), New York (-2,116), Georgia (-2,023), North Carolina (-1,340), and Ohio (-1,192).

Source: dol.gov

 


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