In the week ending January 8, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 445,000, an increase of 35,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 410,000, the U.S. Department of Labor announced on January 13. The four-week moving average was 416,500, an increase of 5,500 from the previous week's revised average of 411,000.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.1 percent for the week ending January 1, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.3 percent.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 1 was 3,879,000, a decrease of 248,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,127,000. The four-week moving average was 4,056,500, a decrease of 72,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 4,128,500.
Unadjusted data: The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 770,413 in the week ending January 8, an increase of 191,686 from the previous week. There were 815,593 initial claims in the comparable week in 2010.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.8 percent during the week ending January 1, an increase of 0.3 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming unemployment insurance benefits in state programs totaled 4,766,951, an increase of 351,439 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 4.6 percent and the volume was 6,013,891.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending December 25 was 9,193,838.
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, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin, during the week ending December 25.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits by former federal civilian employees totaled 1,922 in the week ending January 1, a decrease of 308 from the prior week. There were 2,042 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 208 from the preceding week.
There were 49,772 former federal civilian employees claiming unemployment insurance benefits for the week ending December 25, an increase of 2,659 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 41,865, an increase of 1,297 from the prior week.
States reported 3,773,092 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending December 25, an increase of 195,429 from the prior week. There were 4,980,124 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 25 were in Alaska (7.5 percent), Oregon (5.2), Idaho (5.1), Montana (4.9), Wisconsin (4.8), Pennsylvania (4.7), Puerto Rico (4.6), Nevada (4.5), Illinois (4.4) and Michigan (4.3).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 1 were in Georgia (+11,997), Michigan (+10,129), Pennsylvania (+9,004), New York (+8,379) and Wisconsin (+7,236), while the largest decreases were in California (-13,694), Florida (-1,867), Nevada (-972), Kansas (-841) and New Mexico (-721).
