SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending December 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 361,000, an increase of 17,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 344,000. The 4-week moving average was 367,750, a decrease of 13,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 381,500.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent for the week ending December 8, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 8 was 3,225,000, an increase of 12,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,213,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,240,500, a decrease of 33,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,274,000.
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 400,422 in the week ending December 15, a decrease of 28,766 from the previous week. There were 421,103 initial claims in the comparable week in 2011.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent during the week ending December 8, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,231,115, an increase of 56,406 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.9 percent and the volume was 3,628,343.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending December 1 was 5,402,429, a decrease of 238,637 from the previous week. There were 7,152,130 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2011.
Extended Benefits were only available in New York during the week ending December 1.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,054 in the week ending December 8, an increase of 28 from the prior week. There were 2,831 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 125 from the preceding week.
There were 21,340 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending December 1, an increase of 562 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 39,480, a decrease of 2,017 from the prior week.
States reported 2,096,545 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending December 1, a decrease of 97,708 from the prior week. There were 2,941,157 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 December1 were in Alaska (6.2), New Jersey (3.9), Pennsylvania (3.9), Puerto Rico (3.7), Montana (3.4), California (3.3), Nevada (3.3), Oregon (3.3), Connecticut (3.2), and Wisconsin (3.1).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending December 8 were in California (+5,952), Florida (+749), Ohio (+743), Rhode Island (+197), and Colorado (+161), while the largest decreases were in New York (-11,295), Pennsylvania (-11,247), North Carolina (-8,564), Wisconsin (-5,726) and Georgia (-5,317).
