Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—January 8, 2015.
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending January 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 294,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 298,000. The 4-week moving average was 290,500, a decrease of 250 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 290,750.
There were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent for the week ending December 27, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 27 was 2,452,000, an increase of 101,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 2,000 from 2,353,000 to 2,351,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,397,000, a decrease of 17,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 250 from 2,414,250 to 2,414,000.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 425,399 in the week ending January 3, an increase of 35,581 (or 9.1 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 41,457 (or 10.6 percent) from the previous week. There were 488,537 initial claims in the comparable week in 2014.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent during the week ending December 27, an increase of 0.3 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,758,693, an increase of 407,482 (or 17.3 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 293,901 (or 12.5 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 2.5 percent and the volume was 3,298,387.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending December 20 was 2,405,601, a decrease of 135,432 from the previous week. There were 4,205,127 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 December 20.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,021 in the week ending December 27, a decrease of 535 from the prior week. There were 918 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 796 from the preceding week.
There were 16,529 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending December 20, a decrease of 2,166 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 23,513, a decrease of 2,514 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending December 20 were in Alaska (4.3), New Jersey (3.0), Puerto Rico (3.0), Connecticut (2.7), Nevada (2.7), Massachusetts (2.6), Montana (2.6), Pennsylvania (2.6), California (2.5), and Rhode Island (2.4).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending December 27 were in Michigan (+11,544), New Jersey (+9,663), Wisconsin (+7,051), California (+6,547), and Iowa (+5,204), while the largest decreases were in Texas (-7,008), North Carolina (-2,377), Florida (-1,860), New York (-1,801), and South Carolina (-1,554).
Source: dol.gov
