Jobless claims - July 23, 2009 - 8:38AM

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending July 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 554,000, an increase of 30,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 524,000. The 4-week moving average was 566,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised average of 585,000. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.7 percent for the week ending July 11, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 4.7 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 11 was 6,225,000, a decrease of 88,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 6,313,000. The 4-week moving average was 6,541,500, a decrease of 132,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 6,674,000. The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 5.474 million. UNADJUSTED DATA The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 580,944 in the week ending July 18, a decrease of 90,298 from the previous week. There were 411,408 initial claims in the comparable week in 2008. The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.7 percent during the week ending July 11, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 6,231,108, an increase of 57,168 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.4 percent and the volume was 3,164,970. Extended benefits were available in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin during the week ending July 4. Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,034 in the week ending July 11, an increase of 392 from the prior week. There were 2,234 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 364 from the preceding week. There were 18,461 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending July 4, an increase of 990 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 29,098, an increase of 331 from the prior week. States reported 2,632,361 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending July 4, an increase of 107,019 from the prior week. EUC weekly claims include both first and second tier activity. The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending July 4 were in Puerto Rico (6.9 percent), Michigan (6.8), Oregon (6.8), Pennsylvania (6.4), Nevada (6.2), Wisconsin (6.1), South Carolina (5.7), New Jersey (5.6), North Carolina (5.5), and Connecticut (5.4). The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending July 11 were in New York (+12,504), North Carolina (+10,382), Florida (+10,043), Missouri (+8,293), and Tennessee (+6,943), while the largest decreases were in Michigan (-6,648), Massachusetts (-2,910), New Jersey (-2,888), Indiana (-2,497), and California (-1,755). Full report here