In the week ending December 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 370,000, a decrease of 25,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 395,000. The 4-week moving average was 408,000, an increase of 2,250 from the previous week's revised average of 405,750.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent for the week ending November 24, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending November 24 was 3,205,000, a decrease of 100,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,305,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,309,000, an increase of 7,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,301,250.
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 498,619 in the week ending December 1, an increase of 139,678 from the previous week. There were 528,793 initial claims in the comparable week in 2011.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent during the week ending November 24, an increase of 0.4 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,301,200, an increase of 465,529 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.9 percent and the volume was 3,696,154.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending November 17 was 4,959,240, a decrease of 224,722 from the previous week. There were 6,575,150 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 17.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,627 in the week ending November 24, an increase of 2 from the prior week. There were 1,863 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 522 from the preceding week.
There were 18,845 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending November 17, an increase of 242 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 36,889, a decrease of 2,436 from the prior week.
States reported 2,008,608 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending November 17, a decrease of 110,446 from the prior week. There were 2,794,284 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 10 were in Alaska (5.7), New Jersey (3.9), Puerto Rico (3.6), Pennsylvania (3.3), Connecticut (3.1), Oregon (3.1), Nevada (2.9), Montana (2.8), and New York (2.8).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending November 24 were in Wisconsin (+5,876), Oregon (+2,328), Ohio (+2,252), Washington (+2,107), and Iowa (+1,262), while the largest decreases were in New Jersey (-23,966), California (-7,053), New York (-6,682), Texas (-6,425) and North Carolina (-2,609).
