Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—January 19, 2017
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending January 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 234,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 2,000 from 247,000 to 249,000. The 4-week moving average was 246,750, a decrease of 10,250 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since November 3, 1973 when it was 244,000. The previous week’s average was revised up by 500 from 256,500 to 257,000.
There were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.5 percent for the week ending January 7, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 7 was 2,046,000, a decrease of 47,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 6,000 from 2,087,000 to 2,093,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,090,000, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,500 from 2,086,750 to 2,088,250.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 346,349 in the week ending January 14, a decrease of 65,971 (or -16.0 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 44,488 (or -10.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 378,747 initial claims in the comparable week in 2016.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent during the week ending January 7, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,501,974, an increase of 34,368 (or 1.4 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 92,090 (or 3.7 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 2.0 percent and the volume was 2,680,476.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending December 31 was 2,506,719, an increase of 212,289 from the previous week. There were 2,851,868 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 December 31.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,562 in the week ending January 7, an increase of 560 from the prior week. There were 786 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 111 from the preceding week.
There were 12,766 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending December 31, a decrease of 1,399 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 12,271, a decrease of 424 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending December 31 were in Alaska (4.4), New Jersey (3.1), Montana (3.0), Rhode Island (2.9), Pennsylvania (2.7), Connecticut (2.6), Illinois (2.6), Massachusetts (2.6), Minnesota (2.6), Iowa (2.5), and Puerto Rico (2.5).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 7 were in New York (+23,082), Georgia (+10,614), Texas (+9,686), Pennsylvania (+6,039), and California (+6,000), while the largest decreases were in New Jersey (-4,372), Michigan (-3,414), Washington (-3,267), Kentucky (-2,896), and Iowa (-2,379).
Source: www.dol.gov
