Initial unemployment claims decreased by 14,000 last week

In the week ending March 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 442,000, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 456,000, the U.S. Department of Labor reported on March 25. The four-week moving average was 453,750, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's revised average of 464,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6 percent for the week ending March 13, unchanged from the prior week's revised rate of 3.6 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 13 was 4,648,000, a decrease of 54,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,702,000. The four-week moving average was 4,689,000, a decrease of 36,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 4,725,500.

The fiscal year-to-date average of seasonally adjusted weekly insured unemployment, which corresponds to the appropriated AWIU trigger, was 5.140 million.  

Unadjusted data: The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 405,557 in the week ending March 20, a decrease of 30,447 from the previous week. There were 590,067 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.1 percent during the week ending March 13, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming unemployment insurance benefits in state programs totaled 5,321,697, a decrease of 81,308 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 4.8 percent and the volume was 6,440,135.

Extended benefits were available in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin during the week ending March 6.

Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits by former federal civilian employees totaled 1,219 in the week ending March 13, a decrease of 129 from the prior week. There were 2,273 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 118 from the preceding week.

There were 22,284 former federal civilian employees claiming unemployment insurance benefits for the week ending March 6, a decrease of 1,571 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 36,385, a decrease of 142 from the prior week.

States reported 5,558,430 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending March 6, a decrease of 329,618 from the prior week. There were 2,094,811 claimants in the comparable week in 2009. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third and fourth tier activity.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 6 were in Alaska (7.2 percent), Oregon (6.2), Idaho (6.0), Wisconsin (6.0), Montana (5.9), Puerto Rico (5.8), Pennsylvania (5.7), Michigan (5.6), Nevada (5.6) and Rhode Island (5.5).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 13 were in California (+3,434), Michigan (+2,487), Iowa (+917), New Jersey (+534) and Hawaii (+379), while the largest decreases were in New York (-4,142), Illinois (-3,850), North Carolina (-3,383), Pennsylvania (-2,997) and Ohio (-2,899).