Washington, DC…In the week ending September 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 391,000, a decrease of 37,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 428,000. The 4-week moving average was 417,000, a decrease of 5,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 422,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent for the week ending September 17, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending September 17 was 3,729,000, a decrease of 20,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,749,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,743,000, a decrease of 4,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,747,500.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 324,940 in the week ending September 24, a decrease of 28,880 from the previous week. There were 372,551 initial claims in the comparable week in 2010.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent during the week ending September 17, a decrease of 0.1 percetage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,187,921, a decrease of 118,799 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 3.0 percent and the volume was 3,810,921.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending September 10 was 6,984,897, an increase of 95,242 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 September 10.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,328 in the week ending September 17, an increase of 767 from the prior week. There were 2,903 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 411 from the preceding week.

There were 25,039 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending September 10, an increase of 1,517 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 38,362, an increase of 996 from the prior week.

States reported 3,036,635 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending September 10, an increase of 39,376 from the prior week. There were 3,965,778 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 September 10 were in Puerto Rico (4.5), Pennsylvania (3.9), Alaska (3.7), New Jersey (3.7), California (3.5), Nevada (3.4), Oregon (3.4), Connecticut (3.3), Arkansas (3.1), Rhode Island (3.1), and the Virgin Islands (3.1).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending September 17 were in New York (+4,389), Georgia (+3,038), Pennsylvania (+2,483), Texas (+2,077), and Ohio (+2,014) while the largest decreases were in Puerto Rico(-905), Oregon (-579), Maryland (-553), Kentucky (-501), and Nevada
(-423).