In the week ending July 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 479,000, an increase of 19,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 460,000, the U.S. Department of Labor announced on August 5. The four-week moving average was 458,500, an increase of 5,250 from the previous week's revised average of 453,250.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6 percent for the week ending July 24, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.6 percent.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 24 was 4,537,000, a decrease of 34,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,571,000. The four-week moving average was 4,575,500, an increase of 25,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 4,549,750.
The fiscal year-to-date average of seasonally adjusted weekly insured unemployment, which corresponds to the appropriated AWIU trigger, was 5.028 million.
Unadjusted data: The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 399,570 in the week ending July 31, a decrease of 14,247 from the previous week. There were 466,695 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5 percent during the week ending July 24, 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 4,418,756, a decrease of 152,113 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 4.5 percent and the volume was 6,019,822.
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 Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin during the week ending July 17.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits by former federal civilian employees totaled 3,318 in the week ending July 24, an increase of 37 from the prior week. There were 2,790 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 126 from the preceding week.
There were 22,904 former federal civilian employees claiming unemployment insurance benefits for the week ending July 17, an increase of 1,942 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 42,933, an increase of 1,225 from the prior week.
States reported 3,314,629 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending July 17, an increase of 60,993 from the prior week. There were 2,830,911 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 July 17 were in Puerto Rico (7.2 percent), Pennsylvania (5.3), Oregon (4.8), Massachusetts (4.7), New Jersey (4.7), California (4.6), Connecticut (4.5), Nevada (4.5), Alaska (4.4), Rhode Island (4.3) and Wisconsin (4.3).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending July 24 were in Minnesota (+288), Vermont (+39), North Dakota (+38), Wyoming (+32) and Colorado (+19), while the largest decreases were in California (-19,107), New York (-7,801), North Carolina (-6,399), Michigan (-5,984) and Georgia (-5,863).