WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the week ending December 8, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 343,000, a decrease of 29,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 372,000. The 4-week moving average was 381,500, a decrease of 27,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 408,500.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent for the week ending December 1, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 1 was 3,198,000, a decrease of 23,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,221,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,270,750, a decrease of 42,250 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,313,000.
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 428,814 in the week ending December 8, a decrease of 72,117 from the previous week. There were 435,863 initial claims in the comparable week in 2011.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent during the week ending December 1, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,159,199, a decrease of 158,195 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.8 percent and the volume was 3,540,663.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending November 24 was 5,642,678, an increase of 683,477 from the previous week. There were 7,449,508 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2011.
Extended Benefits were only available in New York during the week ending November 24.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,017 in the week ending December 1, an increase of 389 from the prior week. There were 2,910 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 1,047 from the preceding week.
There were 20,778 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending November 24, an increase of 1,930 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 41,391, an increase of 4,501 from the prior week.
States reported 2,194,253 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending November 24, an increase of 185,645 from the prior week. There were 3,048,926 persons claiming EUC in the comparable week in 2011. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending November 24 were in Alaska (5.8), New Jersey (4.5), Puerto Rico (4.0), Oregon (3.8), Pennsylvania (3.7), California (3.5), Wisconsin (3.5), Montana (3.4), Connecticut (3.3), Nevada (3.2), and West Virginia (3.2).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending December 1 were in California (+24,411), Pennsylvania (+14,636), North Carolina (+13,961), New York (+11,025), and Texas (+10,435), while the largest decreases were in Kentucky (-615), Idaho (-481), Vermont (-402), Florida (-348) and Wisconsin (-91).
