US Jobless Claims Rose 12,000 To 500,000 In August 14 Wk

–Labor Analyst: No Special Factors, Nothing Unusual, Alaska Estimated
–Initial Claims Level High Since Nov. 14, 2009 Week
–Claims Up 32,000 From July 17 Employment Survey Week

By Ian McKendry and Kevin Kastner

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment
benefits rose by 12,000 to 500,000 in the August 14 employment survey
week after seasonal adjustment, according to data released by the U.S.
Labor Department Thursday.

The initial claims level is the highest reported since the November
14, 2009 week, when it stood at 509,000.

The Labor Department analysts said that Alaska was the only state
estimated. Otherwise, there were no special factors in this week’s data
and “nothing unusual” in the state data.

The analyst said that seasonal adjustment factors had expected a
decline of 7.6% for unadjusted claims, which would have been about
32,000. Instead, unadjusted claims fell about 5.3%, or 22,650, to
401,856. This is still below the 457,985 level in the comparable week a
year earlier.

The level of initial claims in the current week is up 32,000 from
the 468,000 level reported in the July 17 employment survey week.

Economists surveyed by Market News International had expected
initial claims to fall to 480,000 in the current week from the
originally reported 484,000 in the August 7 week. The expectations
ranged from 465,000 to 495,000.

The number of initial claims for the August 7 week were revised up
to 488,000.

The initial claims seasonally adjusted 4-week average rose 8,000 to
482,500 in the August 14 week, the highest since the 486,000 level in
December 5, 2009 week.

In the August 7 week, continuing claims fell by 13,000 to 4.478
million. The unadjusted level was down 78,949 from the previous week to
a level of 4,254,571.

The four-week moving average for continuing claims fell 1,500 to
4,526,750 in the August 7 week.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate held steady at
3.5%, still well below the 4.6% rate in the comparable week a year ago.

The unemployment rate among the insured labor force is well below
that reported monthly by the Labor Department because claims are
approved for the most part only for job losers, not the job leavers and
labor force reentrants included in the monthly report.

The Labor Department said that the level of unadjusted Emergency
Unemployment Compensation benefits claims rose by 260,105 in the July 31
week, bringing that category to 4,753,456. Extended benefits claims rose
by 49,229 to 837,357 not seasonally adjusted.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

[TOPICS: MAUDS$,MT$$$$,M$U$$$,MAUDR$]