In the week ending August 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 361,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 367,000. The 4-week moving average was 368,250, an increase of 2,250 from the previous week's revised average of 366,000.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending July 28, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 28 was 3,332,000, an increase of 53,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,279,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,304,750, an increase of 4,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,300,250.
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 317,580 in the week ending August 4, an increase of 4,934 from the previous week. There were 354,408 initial claims in the comparable week in 2011.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent during the week ending July 28, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,239,100, a decrease of 7,551 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.8 percent and the volume was 3,580,433.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending July 21 was 5,750,084, a decrease of 214,367 from the previous week.
Extended benefits were only available in Idaho during the week ending July 21,
Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,455 in the week ending July 28, an increase of 125 from the prior week. There were 2,418 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 104 from the preceding week.
There were 17,456 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending July 21, a decrease of 494 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 39,172, a decrease of 32 from the prior week.
States reported 2,412,938 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending July 21, a decrease of 119,890 from the prior week. There were 3,158,312 claimants 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 July 21 were in Puerto Rico (4.3), theVirgin Islands (4.1), New Jersey (3.8), Pennsylvania (3.8), Alaska (3.6), Connecticut (3.6), California (3.5), Rhode Island (3.4), New York (3.2), and Nevada (3.1).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending July 28 were in New York (+3,250), Washington (+485), Nebraska (+136), Mississippi (+111), and Connecticut (+46), while the largest decreases were in Kentucky (-4,884), California (-4,738), Georgia (-2,206), Florida (-1,840), and Ohio (-1,810).
