EconoIndicators

Jobless Claims At a Glance

• Initial Claims: 455,000
• Change from Last Week: Up 10,000
• 4-Week Moving Average: 445,000
• Insured Unemployment Rate: 2.6%
• Insured Unemployment: 3,478,000

All numbers seasonally adjusted.

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UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT
          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Sept. 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 455,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week’s unrevised figure of 445,000. The 4-week moving average was 445,000, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 440,000.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending Sept. 6, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 2.6 percent.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Sept. 6 was 3,478,000, a decrease of 55,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,533,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,461,000, an increase of 29,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,431,250.  
The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 3.031 million.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 380,170 in the week ending Sept. 13, an increase of 43,436 from the previous week. There were 261,971 initial claims in the comparable week in 2007.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent during the week ending Sept. 6, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,067,187, an increase of 7,896 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 1.7 percent and the volume was 2,242,616.
Extended benefits were available in Alaska and Rhode Island during the week ending Aug. 30.
Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 942 in the week ending Sept. 6, a decrease of 148 from the prior week. There were 1,695 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 61 from the preceding week.
There were 13,402 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Aug. 30, a decrease of 47 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 21,253, a decrease of 446 from the prior week.
States reported 1,387,879 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Aug. 30, an increase of 290,504 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Aug. 30 were in Puerto Rico (5.3 percent), Michigan (3.5), New Jersey (3.4), Alaska (3.3), Pennsylvania (3.2), Oregon (3.1), California (3.0), Nevada (3.0), Rhode Island (3.0), and South Carolina (2.9).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Sept. 6 were in Louisiana (+2,251), Wisconsin (+1,510), North Carolina (+1,234), Kansas (+798), and South Carolina (+698), while the largest decreases were in Texas (-3,255), California (-3,238), New York (-3,238), Ohio (-2,321), and Missouri (-2,163).

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 09/06/2008 

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

Unemployment Claims by State – 090608

Source: Employment and Training Administration