Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—December 17, 2015
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending December 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 271,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 282,000. The 4-week moving average was 270,500, a decrease of 250 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 270,750.
There were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.7 percent for the week ending December 5, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 5 was 2,238,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 2,000 from 2,243,000 to 2,245,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,199,750, an increase of 16,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 500 from 2,183,000 to 2,183,500
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 312,632 in the week ending December 12, a decrease of 71,859 (or -18.7 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 59,000 (or -15.3 percent) from the previous week. There were 327,827 initial claims in the comparable week in 2014.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.6 percent during the week ending December 5, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,201,794, a decrease of 97,546 (or -4.2 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 89,818 (or -3.9 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.8 percent and the volume was 2,354,533.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending November 28 was 2,353,710, an increase of 419,114 from the previous week. There were 2,577,306 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2014.
No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending November 28.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,714 in the week ending December 5, an increase of 759 from the prior week. There were 1,407 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 638 from the preceding week.
There were 16,110 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending November 28, an increase of 3,286 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 17,869, an increase of 2,035 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending November 28 were in Alaska (4.5), Puerto Rico (3.2), California (2.7), Montana (2.7), New Jersey (2.7), West Virginia (2.7), Pennsylvania (2.4), Connecticut (2.3), Nevada (2.3), and Wyoming (2.3).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending December 5 were in California (+22,487), New York (+13,113), Pennsylvania (+12,021), Texas (+10,782), and Georgia (+8,275), while the largest decreases were in Kentucky (-1,256), Arkansas (-533), Louisiana (-140), and Kansas (-90).
Source: www.dol.gov
