–Analyst: No States Estimated, Nothing Unusual In State-level Data
–Four-Week Moving Average Falls To 366,250, Low Since April 26, 2008

By Kevin Kastner and Ian McKendry

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment
benefits fell by 15,000 to 358,000 in the February 4 week, below
estimates, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Economists surveyed by Market News International had expected
initial claims to come in at 370,000, up 3,000 from the 367,000 level
initially reported in last week’s data. That week’s claims were revised
up to 373,000.

A Labor Department analyst said there were no states estimated and
nothing unusual in the state data.

Seasonal factors had expected a decline of about 7,467 in
unadjusted claims in the week. Instead, unadjusted claims fell 24,777 in
the February 4 week to a level of 397,810. Unadjusted claims were at a
level of 440,706 in the comparable week a year ago.

The initial claims seasonally adjusted 4-week moving average was
366,250 in the February 4 week, a decline of 11,000 from the previous
week and the lowest level since 361,500 in the April 26, 2008 week.

The state data released for the January 28 week indicated
unadjusted initial claims increased in 26 states and declined in 27
states. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands are
included in this data.

Continuing claims jumped 64,000 to 3.515 million after seasonal
adjustment in the January 28 week. Unadjusted continuing claims rose
26,370 to 4,084,606 in the January 28 week, but were still down from the
4,605,543 level in the comparable week a year earlier.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate rebounded to 2.8%
in the January 28 week from 2.7% in the prior week. The rate was 3.1% in
the comparable week a year earlier.

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 fell by 21,789 in the January
21 week, bringing that category to 2,985,907. Extended benefits claims
rose by 40,439 to 514,691 not seasonally adjusted in the same week.

The Labor Department reported that a total of 7,663,205 persons
claimed unemployment benefits in the January 21 week, a rise of 7,982
from the previous week, but still well below the 9,362,356 persons in
the comparable week a year ago. These data are not seasonally adjusted,
and include regular state claims, federal employee claims, new veterans
claims, the EUC and extended benefits programs, state additional
benefits, and STC/Workshare claims.

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

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