In the week ending March 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 243,000, an increase of 20,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 223,000. The 4-week moving average was 236,500, an increase of 2,250 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 234,250.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.5 percent for the week ending February 25, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 25 was 2,058,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 2,000 from 2,066,000 to 2,064,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,065,500, a decrease of 5,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 500 from 2,071,250 to 2,070,750
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 243,937 in the week ending March 4, an increase of 31,108 (or 14.6 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 10,708 (or 5.0 percent) from the previous week. There were 247,628 initial claims in the comparable week in 2016.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent during the week ending February 25, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,445,046, an increase of 52,574 (or 2.2 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 59,863 (or 2.5 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.9 percent and the volume was 2,600,820.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending February 18 was 2,434,335, a decrease of 99,058 from the previous week. There were 2,719,852 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2016.
No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending February 18. Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 619 in the week ending February 25, a decrease of 109 from the prior week. There were 640 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 170 from the preceding week.
There were 14,012 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending February 18, an increase of 414 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 11,649, a decrease of 148 from the prior week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending February 18 were in Alaska (4.4), New Jersey (3.1), Connecticut (2.9), Montana (2.9), Rhode Island (2.9), Massachusetts (2.7), Pennsylvania (2.7), Puerto Rico (2.7), Illinois (2.6), and California (2.5).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending February 25 were in Massachusetts (+3,006), Rhode Island (+981), Vermont (+212), Maine (+151), and Louisiana (+142), while the largest decreases were in California (-5,600), Michigan (-3,394), Pennsylvania (-2,762), Washington (-2,179), and New York (-1,980).
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