News Release
U.S. Department of Labor Office of Public Affairs Washington, D.C.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending December 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 366,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 385,000. The 4-week moving average was 387,750, a decrease of 6,500 from the previous week's revised average of 394,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.9 percent for the week ending December 3, unchanged from the prior week's revised rate.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 3 was 3,603,000, an increase of 4,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,599,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,666,250, a decrease of 5,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,671,250.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.8 percent during the week ending December 3, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,516,999, a decrease of 179,155 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 3.2 percent and the volume was 4,062,531.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending November 26 was 7,449,507, an increase of 874,670 from the previous week.

Extended benefits were available in Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin during the week ending November 26.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,369 in the week ending December 3, an increase of 366 from the prior week. There were 2,879 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 1,071 from the preceding week.

There were 30,893 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending November 26, an increase of 3,190 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 44,325, an increase of 5,697 from the prior week.

States reported 3,048,926 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending November 26, an increase of 254,642 from the prior week. There were 3,854,067 claimants in the comparable week in 2010. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending November 26 were in Alaska (6.7), Oregon (4.5), Puerto Rico (4.5), California (4.1), Pennsylvania (4.0), Wisconsin (3.9), Montana (3.8), New Jersey (3.8), Arkansas (3.7), and Nevada (3.7).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending December 3 were in California (+27,780), North Carolina (+15,427), New York (+14,048), Pennsylvania (+13,634), and Georgia (+11,144) while the largest decreases were in Iowa (-1,785), Wisconsin (-1,586), Puerto Rico(-692), Arkansas (-642), and Vermont (-111).

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 12/3/2011 

This information will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-693-4676. TDD Message Phone: 1-800-326-2577.  News releases from the U.S. Department of Labor are accessible on the Internet at: http://www.dol.gov/ and  http://www.oui.doleta.gov/