–Labor Department Analyst: No States Estimated

By Brai Odion-Esene

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment
benefits rose by 21,000 to 377,000 in the January 21 holiday week, above
estimates, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Economists surveyed by Market News International had expected
initial claims to come in at 369,000, up 17,000 from the 352,000 level
initially reported in last week’s data. That week’s claims were revised
up slightly to 356,000.

A Labor Department analyst said that no state data was estimated
this week and there was nothing unusual in the state level data.

Seasonal factors had expected a drop of 25.7%, or about 135,000, in
unadjusted claims in the week. The actual unadjusted decrease in the
January 21 week was 21.4%, or 112,817 to 414,122. Unadjusted claims were
at a level of 485,950 in the comparable week a year ago.

The initial claims seasonally adjusted 4-week moving average was
377,500 in the January 21 week, a decrease of 2,500 from the previous
week.

The state data released for the January 14 week indicated
unadjusted initial claims increased in 8 states and declined in 45
states. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands are
included in this data.

Continuing claims jumped 88,000 to 3.554 million after seasonal
adjustment in the January 14 employment survey week. Unadjusted
continuing claims fell 62,545 to 4,054,631 in the January 14 survey week
but are still down from the 4,614,149 level in the comparable week a
year earlier.

In a survey week comparison, continuing claims are down by 62,000
compared with the 3.616 million claims reported in the December 16
survey week.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate rose to 2.8% in
the Janaury 14 week from 2.7% the prior week. The current rate was still
well below the 3.2% rate 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 plunged 144,822 in the Janaury
7 week, bringing that category to 2,882,033. Extended benefits claims
fell 1,301 to 531,871 not seasonally adjusted in the same week.

The Labor Department reported that a total of 7,638,233 persons
claimed unemployment benefits in the Janaury 7 week, a decline of
188,612 from the previous week, but still well below the 9,411,123
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$]