Washington, DC…In the week ending Jan. 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 404,000, a decrease of 37,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 441,000. The 4-week moving average was 411,750, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 415,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.1 percent for the week ending Jan. 8, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 3.1 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Jan. 8 was 3,861,000, a decrease of 26,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,887,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,006,250, a decrease of 52,250 from the preceding week’s revised average of 4,058,500.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 550,594 in the week ending Jan. 15, a decrease of 212,504 from the previous week. There were 652,327 initial claims in the comparable week in 2010.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.7 percent during the week ending Jan. 8, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,609,826, a decrease of 167,288 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 4.5 percent and the volume was 5,791,080.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending Jan. 1 was 9,607,423.

Extended benefits were available in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, during the week ending Jan. 1.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 5,438 in the week ending Jan. 8, an increase of 3,513 from the prior week. There were 2,815 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 772 from the preceding week.

There were 48,216 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Jan. 1, a decrease of 1,556 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 41,464, a decrease of 401 from the prior week.

States reported 3,719,607 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Jan. 1, a decrease of 53,485 from the prior week. There were 5,392,352 claimants in the comparable week in 2010. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Jan. 1 were in Alaska (7.2 percent), Puerto Rico (6.1), Idaho (5.6), Oregon (5.6), Wisconsin (5.6), Pennsylvania (5.4), Montana (5.1), Connecticut (5.0), Rhode Island (4.9), Illinois (4.7), and New Jersey (4.7).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Jan. 8 were in New York (+24,363), California (+17,536), North Carolina (+16,873), Texas (+13,828), and Illinois (+11,211), while the largest decreases were in Oregon (-9,579), Iowa (-3,122), Michigan (-3,101), Wisconsin (-2,029), and Kentucky (-1,006).