ETA News Release: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report (10/18/2012)

Source: Department of Labor, Employment and Training Admin

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending October 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 388,000, an increase of 46,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 342,000. The 4-week moving average was 365,500, an increase of 750 from the previous week's revised average of 364,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent for the week ending October 6, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending October 6 was 3,252,000, a decrease of 29,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,281,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,275,500, a decrease of 5,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,281,250.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 359,048 in the week ending October 13, an increase of 29,129 from the previous week. There were 357,562 initial claims in the comparable week in 2011.
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The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending October 6 were in New York (+2,700), Oregon (+2,215), Illinois (+1,800), Texas (+1,724), and Georgia (+1,651), while the largest decreases were in California (-4,979), Alabama (-322), West Virginia (-50), and Rhode Island (-42).

Read more: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20122075.htm

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Good morning, Freepers and DUers alike. It is time once again for the weekly unemployment insurance initial claims report, brought to you as a nonpartisan public service. I ask you to put aside your differences long enough to read this post. Following that, you can engage in your usual donnybrook.

Ooof, there was an increase of 46,000 this week. Last week's figure was on the low side, though, as California did not get its data into the BLS on time.

I have been posting the number every week for at least a year. I seriously do not care if the week's data make Obama look good, or Romney look good, or Chairman Mao look good, or anybody else. They are just numbers, and I post them without regard to the consequences. I welcome people from Free Republic to examine the numbers as well. They paid for the work just as much as members of DU did, so I invite them to come on over and have a look. "The more the merrier" is the way I look at it.

I do not work at the ETA, and I do not know anyone working in that agency. I'm sure I can safely assume that the numbers are gathered and analyzed by career civil servant economists who do their work on a nonpartisan basis. Numbers are numbers, and let the chips fall where they may. If you feel that these economists are falling down on the job, drop them a line or give them a call. They work for you, not for any politician or political party.

The word "initial" is important. The report does not count all claims, just the new ones filed this week.

Note: The seasonal adjustment factors used for the UI Weekly Claims data from 2007 forward, along with the resulting seasonally adjusted values for initial claims and continuing claims, have been revised. These revised historical values, as well as the seasonal adjustment factors that will be used through calendar year 2012, can be accessed at the bottom of the following link: http://www.oui.doleta.gov/press/2012/032912.asp