In the week ending January 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 409,000, an increase of 18,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 391,000, the U.S. Department of Labor reported on January 5. The four-week moving average was 410,750, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average of 414,250.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.3 percent for the week ending December 25, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.3 percent.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 25 was 4,103,000, a decrease of 47,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,150,000. The four-week moving average was 4,122,500, a decrease of 2,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 4,125,250.
Unadjusted data: The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 577,279 in the week ending January 1, an increase of 52,038 from the previous week. There were 645,446 initial claims in the comparable week in 2010.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5 percent during the week ending December 25, an increase of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming unemployment insurance benefits in state programs totaled 4,390,661, an increase of 273,882 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 4.2 percent and the volume was 5,484,997.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending December 18 was 8,765,952.
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, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin, during the week ending December 18.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits by former federal civilian employees totaled 2,228 in the week ending December 25, a decrease of 301 from the prior week. There were 1,836 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 660 from the preceding week.
There were 47,113 former federal civilian employees claiming unemployment insurance benefits for the week ending December 18, a decrease of 3,857 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 40,559, a decrease of 2,655 from the prior week.
States reported 3,577,663 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending December 18, a decrease of 133,625 from the prior week. There were 5,140,373 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 December 18 were in Alaska (6.6 percent), Puerto Rico (4.9), Idaho (4.6), Montana (4.5), Oregon (4.5), Nevada (4.4), Pennsylvania (4.4), Illinois (4.3), Wisconsin (4.3), California (4.1) and Rhode Island (4.1).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending December 25 were in California (+15,972), Wisconsin (+3,109), North Carolina (+2,992), Indiana (+2,896) and Massachusetts (+2,738), while the largest decreases were in Florida (-4,956), Texas (-3,904), Georgia (-3,089), Oklahoma (-2,133) and Illinois (-1,847).
