Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report {12/23/2010}

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Dec. 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 420,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 423,000. The 4-week moving average was 426,000, an increase of 2,500 from the previous week's revised average of 423,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.2 percent for the week ending Dec. 11, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.3 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Dec.11 was 4,064,000, a decrease of 103,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,167,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,155,500, a decrease of 38,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 4,193,750.

Read more: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20101756.htm

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It's Thursday.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

1. I need some help with the terminology

What exactly is an "initial claim?" Does it refer solely to the first time someone applies for unemployment and gets in the system? Because 400,000 people being thrown out of work every week seems high.

[Bigmack]

2. Thanks for asking this... let's see if anybody knows. Kick. nt

[OnlinePoker]

3. This is indeed what it means

On the other hand, that doesn't mean the number of people unemployed has gone up by that much because some people have found jobs. Look to the continuing claims level to see how many people are still drawing UI on a weekly basis. You can add 30-50k to this number, however as the figure is revised upward weekly (I've never seen it go down and the revision is almost always within this range). A continuing claimant will be anyone drawing support for more than one week, even if they get a job in the second week.

I don't know how the extended benefits package that was recently passed will effect continuing claims, though. Do the people who lost their benefits get re-enrolled for stats purposes? If so, continuing claims could take a big jump in the new year.