Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report

Note: This week’s release reflects the annual revision to the weekly unemployment
claims seasonal adjustment factors. The seasonal adjustment factors used for
the UI Weekly Claims data from 2009 forward, along with the resulting seasonally
adjusted values for initial claims and continuing claims, have been revised.

In addition, beginning April 10, 2014, the UI Weekly Claims News Release
will be issued under a revised (.pdf) format. The new version of the release
will include graphics and tables for additional information and ease of use.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending March 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial
claims was 326,000, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised figure
of 310,000. The 4-week moving average was 319,500, an increase of 250 from the
previous week’s revised average of 319,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent
for the week ending March 22, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior
week’s revised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment
during the week ending March 22 was 2,836,000, an increase of 22,000 from the
preceding week’s revised level of 2,814,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,842,250,
a decrease of 13,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 2,855,750.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 289,535 in the week
ending March 29, an increase of 15,463 from the previous week.
There were 317,494 initial claims in the comparable week in 2013.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.4 percent during the
week ending March 22, unchanged from the prior week.
The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs
totaled 3,088,725, a decrease of 43,379 from the preceding week. A year earlier,
the rate was 2.6 percent and the volume was 3,344,342.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week
ending March 15 was 3,201,504,
a decrease of 105,367
from the previous week.
There were 5,279,851 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2013.

No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending
March 15.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled
996 in the week ending March 22, a decrease of 14 from the prior week. There
were 1,802 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 25 from the preceding week.

There were 18,244 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for
the week ending March 15, a decrease of 1,115 from the previous week. Newly
discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 27,298, a decrease of 1,056 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 15 were in
Alaska (5.3), New Jersey (3.9), Pennsylvania (3.8), Connecticut (3.7), Rhode Island (3.7), California (3.4), Illinois (3.4), Montana (3.4), Massachusetts (3.3), and Wisconsin (3.3).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 22 were in
Texas (+2,424), Florida (+1,698), Puerto Rico (+668), Iowa (+580), and Kansas (+326),
while the largest decreases were in
California (-8,725), Nebraska (-1,121), Washington (-801), Arkansas (-713), and Tennessee (-698).

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DATA FOR REGULAR STATE PROGRAMS

INITIAL CLAIMS FILED IN FEDERAL PROGRAMS (UNADJUSTED)

PERSONS CLAIMING UI BENEFITS IN ALL PROGRAMS (UNADJUSTED)

FOOTNOTES
SA – Seasonally Adjusted Data, NSA – Not
Seasonally Adjusted Data
¹ – Prior year is comparable to most
recent data.
² – Most recent week used covered employment of
130,938,360 as denominator.
³ –
Information on the EB program can be found here:
http://www.ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/extenben.asp
⁴ – Some states
maintain additional benefit programs for those claimants who exhaust regular,
extended and emergency benefits. Information on states that participate,
        and the
extent of benefits paid, can be found starting on page 4-5 of this link:
http://ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/pdf/uilawcompar/2010/special.pdf
⁵
– Information on STC/Worksharing can be found starting on page 4-9 of the
following link: http://ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/pdf/uilawcompar/2010/special.pdf
⁶ – Prior year total includes EUC claimants.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED
MARCH 22, 2014

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000