–‘Several States’ Reported Issac-Related Claims Rise; Total About 9,000
–Continuing Claims Level -49,000 To 3.283 Mln In The September 8 Week

By Kevin Kastner and Ian McKendry

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment
benefits rose by 15,000 to 382,000 in the September 8 holiday-shortened
week, higher than expected and following a small upward revision to the
previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The median estimate of economists surveyed by MNI was for 370,000,
a increase of 5,000 from the initially reported 365,000 level in the
September 1 week. That week’s claims level was revised up by 2,000 to
367,000.

A Labor Department note with the data said that “several states
have reported increases in initial claims (approximately 9,000 in total)
for the week ending September 8, 2012, as a result of Tropical Storm
Issac.”

The estimate of 9,000 storm-related claims is prior to seasonal
adjustment.

A Labor Department analyst also noted the impact of the holiday, as
seasonal factors expected a drop of 23,861 in unadjusted claims in the
September 8 week. Instead, unadjusted claims fell only 12,058 to a level
of 297,402 in the current week. Unadjusted claims were at a level of
328,868 in the comparable week a year ago.

Taken together, it appears that unadjusted claims would have been
closer to seasonal adjustment expectations without the impact of Issac.

The initial claims seasonally adjusted 4-week moving average was
375,000 in the September 8 week, a rise of 3,250 claims from the
previous week.

The state data released for the September 1 week indicated
unadjusted initial claims increased in 23 states and declined in 29
states, with 1 state unchanged. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico,
and Virgin Islands are included in this data.

Continuing claims came in at 3.283 million after seasonal
adjustment in the September 1 week, a decline of 49,000 from the
previous week. Unadjusted continuing claims fell 173,235 to 2,912,245 in
the week, and remains below the 3,293,105 level in the comparable week a
year ago.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate held steady at
2.6%, as it has since March, and is still down from the 3.0% 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 fell by 40,543 in the August
25 week, bringing that category total to 2,223,071. Extended benefits
claims fell by 699 to 2,597 not seasonally adjusted in the same week.

The Labor Department reported that a total of 5,391,576 persons
claimed unemployment benefits in the August 25 week, a drop of 78,465
from the previous week and still well below the 7,143,572 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.

** MNI Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

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