Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—March 31, 2016
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending March 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 276,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 265,000. The 4-week moving average was 263,250, an increase of 3,500 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 259,750.
There were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims.
This marks 56 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000, the longest streak since 1973.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.6 percent for the week ending March 19, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 19 was 2,173,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 1,000 from 2,179,000 to 2,180,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,190,750, a decrease of 14,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 1,250 from 2,206,500 to 2,205,250
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 235,839 in the week ending March 26, an increase of 4,957 (or 2.15 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 4,771 (or -2.07 percent) from the previous week. There were 239,748 initial claims in the comparable week in 2015.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent during the week ending March 19, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,410,212, a decrease of 81,932 (or -3.3 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 74,132 (or -3.0 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.9 percent and the volume was 2,564,097.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending March 12 was 2,538,076, a decrease of 57,054 from the previous week. There were 2,759,764 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2015.
No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending March 12.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 625 in the week ending March 19, a decrease of 101 from the prior week. There were 1,035 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 54 from the preceding week.
There were 11,691 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending March 12, a decrease of 1,258 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 14,243, a decrease of 373 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 12 were in Alaska (4.4), New Jersey (3.1), Wyoming (3.1), Pennsylvania (3.0), West Virginia (3.0), Connecticut (2.9), Montana (2.8), Rhode Island (2.8), Illinois (2.7), and Massachusetts (2.7).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 19 were in Missouri (+585), Florida (+342), Illinois (+334), Colorado (+332), and South Carolina (+304), while the largest decreases were in California (-2,350), Pennsylvania (-1,407), New York (-1,041), Washington (-695), and Nebraska (-657).
Source: http://www.dol.gov
