EconoIndicators

Jobless Claims At a Glance

• Initial Claims: 445,000
• Change from Last Week: Down 6,000
• 4-Week Moving Average: 440,000
• Insured Unemployment Rate: 2.6%
• Insured Unemployment: 3,525,000

All numbers seasonally adjusted.

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UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT
          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Sept. 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 445,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 451,000. The 4-week moving average was 440,000, an increase of 250 from the previous week’s revised average of 439,750.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending Aug. 30, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s revised rate of 2.5 percent.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Aug. 30 was 3,525,000, an increase of 122,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,403,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,429,000, an increase of 36,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,392,250.  
The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 3.019 million.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 336,643 in the week ending Sept. 6, a decrease of 22,137 from the previous week. There were 245,526 initial claims in the comparable week in 2007.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent during the week ending Aug. 30, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,052,856, a decrease of 44,203 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 1.7 percent and the volume was 2,236,358.
Extended benefits were available in Alaska and Rhode Island during the week ending Aug. 23.
Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,091 in the week ending Aug. 30, an increase of 71 from the prior week. There were 1,634 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 103 from the preceding week.
There were 13,451 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Aug. 23, a decrease of 812 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 21,694, an increase of 73 from the prior week.
States reported 1,078,060 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Aug. 23, a decrease of 316,689 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Aug. 23 were in Puerto Rico (4.6 percent), New Jersey (3.5), Rhode Island (3.4), Pennsylvania (3.3), California (3.2), Michigan (3.2), Connecticut (3.1), Nevada (3.1), Oregon (3.1), and South Carolina (3.0).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Aug. 30 were in Ohio (+2,835), North Carolina (+2,388), Pennsylvania (+2,016), Missouri (+1,888), and Florida (+1,881), while the largest decreases were in Louisiana (-2,228), Alabama (-1,172), Wisconsin (-1,158), South Carolina (-1,140), and Puerto Rico (-1,050).

FOOTNOTES
SA – Seasonally Adjusted Data
NSA –
Not Seasonally Adjusted Data
¹ – Prior year is comparable
to most recent data.

² – Most recent week used covered employment of 133,690,617 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 08/30/2008 

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

Unemployment Claims State Detail 083008

Source: Employment and Training Administration