Thumbs Up: US Dept of Labor Reports Unemployment Claims drop by 34,000 last week

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA



In the week ending Dec. 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial
claims was 388,000, a decrease of 34,000 from the previous week's revised
figure of 422,000. The 4-week moving average was 414,000, a decrease of 12,500
from the previous week's revised average of 426,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.3 percent
for the week ending Dec. 18, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior
week's unrevised rate of 3.2 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during
the week ending Dec.18 was 4,128,000, an increase of 57,000 from the preceding
week's revised level of 4,071,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,120,000,
a decrease of 37,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 4,157,250.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted,
totaled 521,834 in the week ending Dec. 25, an increase of 24,879 from the previous
week. There were 556,517 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.3 percent during the
week ending Dec. 18, unchanged from the prior week.
The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs
totaled 4,095,135, a decrease of 85,886 from the preceding week. A year earlier,
the rate was 3.9 percent and the volume was 5,088,864.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending
Dec. 4 was 8,866,924.

Extended benefits were available in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona,
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia,
Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New
Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto
Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia,
Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, during the week ending Dec.
11.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees
totaled 2,538 in the week ending Dec. 18, a decrease of 744 from the
prior week. There were 2,494 initial claims by newly discharged
veterans, a decrease of 92 from the preceding week.

There were 58,174 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI
benefits for the week ending Dec. 11, an increase of 10,596 from the
previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled
43,215, an increase of 1,039 from the prior week.

States reported 3,711,288 persons claiming EUC (Emergency
Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Dec. 11, a
decrease of 77,741 from the prior week. There were 4,869,540 claimants
in the comparable week in 2009. EUC weekly claims include first, second,
third, and fourth tier activity.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Dec. 11
were in Alaska (7.3 percent), Puerto Rico (5.1), Montana (4.8), Oregon
(4.8), Pennsylvania (4.6), Idaho (4.5), California (4.4), Nevada (4.3),
New Jersey (4.2), and Wisconsin (4.2).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Dec. 18
were in New Jersey (+5,235), Michigan (+3,087), Missouri (+2,404),
Florida (+2,281), and Oregon (+2,026), while the largest decreases were
in California (-7,656), Illinois (-3,149), Georgia (-1,935),
Pennsylvania (-1,574), and Texas (-1,494).

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DATA FOR REGULAR STATE PROGRAMS

INITIAL CLAIMS FILED IN FEDERAL PROGRAMS (UNADJUSTED)

PERSONS CLAIMING UI BENEFITS IN ALL PROGRAMS
(UNADJUSTED)

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 125,845,577 as denominator.



³ - EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.
Tier-specific EUC data can be found here: http://ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/docs/persons.xls

⁴ - Information on the EB program can be found here: http://www.ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/extenben.asp


⁵ - Some states maintain additional benefit programs for
those claimants who exhaust regular, extended and emergency benefits.
Information on states that participate and the extent of benefits can be
 found starting on page 4-5 of this link:
http://ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/pdf/uilawcompar/2010/special.pdf

⁶ - Information on STC/Worksharing can be found starting
on page 4-9 of the following link:
http://ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/pdf/uilawcompar/2010/special.pdf

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 12/18/2010 

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000