Washington, DC…In the week ending August 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 417,000, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 412,000. The 4-week moving average was 407,500, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 403,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.9 percent for the week ending August 13, a 0.1 percentage point decrease from the prior week’s revised rate of 3.0 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 13 was 3,641,000, a decrease of 80,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,721,250. The 4-week moving average was 3,701,000, a decrease of 19,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,720,750.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 341,436 in the week ending August 20, a decrease of 4,536 from the previous week. There were 384,955 initial claims in the comparable week in 2010.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.7 percent during the week ending August 13, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,452,004, a decrease of 101,224 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 3.3 percent and the volume was 4,219,639.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending August 6 was 7,290,189, a decrease of 45,989 from the previous week.

Extended benefits were available in Alabama, 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, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin during the week ending August 6.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,959 in the week ending August 13, a decrease of 1,585 from the prior week. There were 2,540 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 414 from the preceding week.

There were 26,769 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending August 6, an increase of 635 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 38,135, an increase of 508 from the prior week.

States reported 3,086,781 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending August 6, a decrease of 43,827 from the prior week. There were 4,820,132 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 August 6 were in Puerto Rico (5.2), Pennsylvania (4.2), New Jersey (4.0), Alaska (3.9) , Connecticut (3.8), California (3.7), Oregon (3.7), Nevada (3.6), Rhode Island (3.6) and Wisconsin (3.4).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending August 13 were in New York (+5,047), Massachusetts (+2,499), New Jersey (+2,223), Puerto Rico (+1,236), and Connecticut (+532) while the largest decreases were in California (-10,912), Texas (-1,690), Minnesota (-1,061), Florida (-987), and Missouri (-836 ).