Washington, DC…Unemployment claims jumped back up 43,000 over the previous week to 474,000 last week according to the latest release from the Department of Labor

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending April 30, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 474,000, an increase of 43,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 431,000. The 4-week moving average was 431,250, an increase of 22,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 409,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent for the week ending April 23, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 2.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 23 was 3,733,000, an increase of 74,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,659,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,700,750, a decrease of 1,250 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,702,000.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 412,873 in the week ending April 30, an increase of 25,006 from the previous week. There were 399,350 initial claims in the comparable week in 2010.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent during the week ending April 23, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,751,962, a decrease of 31,825 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 3.6 percent and the volume was 4,671,227.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending April 16 was 8,014,919, a decrease of 171,547 from the previous week.

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 April 16.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,413 in the week ending April 23, a decrease of 322 from the prior week. There were 2,076 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 241 from the preceding week.

There were 29,777 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 16, a decrease of 4,749 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 37,513, a decrease of 8,488 from the prior week.

States reported 3,447,542 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending April 16, a decrease of 718 from the prior week. There were 5,349,618 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 April 16 were in Alaska (6.0 percent), Puerto Rico (4.8), Oregon (4.4), Pennsylvania (4.2), California (4.1), Wisconsin (4.1), Rhode Island (3.9), Idaho (3.9), New Jersey (3.9), Nevada (3.8), and Montana (3.8).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 23 were in New Jersey (+5,326), Massachusetts (+4,027), Pennsylvania (+2,306), Ohio (+1,700), and Connecticut (+1,601), while the largest decreases were in Florida (-1,861), North Carolina (-1,662), Missouri (-1,618), New Mexico
(-1,417), and Arizona (-1,138).

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DATA FOR REGULAR STATE PROGRAMS

INITIAL CLAIMS FILED IN FEDERAL PROGRAMS (UNADJUSTED)

PERSONS CLAIMING UI BENEFITS IN ALL PROGRAMS (UNADJUSTED)

FOOTNOTES
SA – Seasonally Adjusted Data, NSA – Not Seasonally Adjusted Data
¹ – Prior year is comparable to most recent data.
² – Most recent week used covered employment of 125,572,661 as denominator.
³ – EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity. Tier-specific EUC data can be found here: http://ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/docs/persons.xls
⁴ – Information on the EB program can be found here: http://www.ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/extenben.asp
⁵ – Some states maintain additional benefit programs for those claimants who exhaust regular, extended and emergency benefits. Information on states that participate and the extent of benefits can be  found starting on page 4-5 of this link: http://ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/pdf/uilawcompar/2010/special.pdf
⁶ – Information on STC/Worksharing can be found starting on page 4-9 of the following link: http://ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/pdf/uilawcompar/2010/special.pdf

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 04/23/2011

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000