Courtesy of Lee Adler of the Wall Street Examiner
That headline is the actual number, not the seasonally fudged number. Here’s the official press release from the Employment and Training Administration with ALL the data that none of the mainstream media outlets bothers to report. I will post an analysis with charts showing the actual trend later this morning. The actual data as counted by the 50 states is listed under the heading Unadjusted Data.
The current week is an advance number that does not include interstate claims. The usual upward revision the following week is between 3,000 and 4,000. Adjusting the current number by that amount results in a year to year decline of about 30,000 or 9% from the same week last year. A 9% decline is near the center of the range of the annual rate of change since 2010. These numbers remain absolutely consistent with the trend.
Press Release-
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending August 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 372,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 368,000. The 4-week moving average was 368,000, an increase of 3,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 364,250.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending August 11, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 11, was 3,317,000, an increase of 4,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,313,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,311,500, an increase of 6,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,305,000.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 310,121 in the week ending August 18, a decrease of 7,320 from the previous week. There were 344,870 initial claims in the comparable week in 2011.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent during the week ending August 11, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,164,819, a decrease of 15,192 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.8 percent and the volume was 3,557,586.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending August 4 was 5,594,498 , a decrease of 109,812 from the previous week.
Extended benefits were only available in Idaho during the week ending August 4.
Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,144 in the week ending August 11, a decrease of 102 from the prior week. There were 2,577 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 39 from the preceding week.
There were 17,456 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending August 4, a decrease of 659 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 38,487, a decrease of 1,612 from the prior week.
States reported 2,326,635 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending August 4, a decrease of 47,334 from the prior week. There were 3,086,781 persons claiming EUC in the comparable week in 2011. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending August 4 were in Puerto Rico (4.7), theVirgin Islands (4.6), Pennsylvania (3.8), New Jersey (3.7), Connecticut (3.6), Alaska (3.6), California (3.5), Rhode Island (3.2), New York (3.1), and Nevada (3.0).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending August 11 were in California (+7,941), Puerto Rico (+1,980), Oregon (+755), Idaho (+527), and Connecticut (+306), while the largest decreases were in Michigan (-2,324), Pennsylvania (-1,879), Indiana (-1,485), Illinois (-1,223), and Massachsetts (-1,212).
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