Washington, DC…In the week ending October 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 249,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 254,000. The 4-week moving average was 253,500, a decrease of 2,500 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 256,000. This is the lowest level for this average since December 8, 1973 when it was 252,250.

There were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims. This marks 83 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000, the longest streak since 1970.The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.5 percent for the week ending September 24, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending
September 24 was 2,058,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since July 1, 2000 when it was 2,052,000. The previous week’s level was revised up 2,000 from 2,062,000 to 2,064,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,094,750, a decrease of 21,000 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since August 12, 2000 when it was 2,090,000. The previous week’s average was revised up by 500
from 2,115,250 to 2,115,750

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 202,800 in the week ending October 1, an increase of 4,345 (or 2.2 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 8,894 (or 4.5 percent) from the previous week. There were 227,176 initial claims in the comparable week in 2015.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.3 percent during the week ending September 24, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 1,741,354, a decrease of 14,743 (or -0.8 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 10,318 (or -0.6 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.4 percent and the volume was 1,870,678.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending September 17 was 1,795,740, a decrease of 79,054 from the previous week. There were 1,923,735 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2015. No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending September 17. Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 844 in the week ending September 24, an increase of 92 from the prior week. There were 1,087 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 21 from the preceding week.

There were 9,152 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending September 17, an increase of 978 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 13,371, an increase of 148 from the prior week. The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending September 17 were in Alaska (2.6), Puerto Rico (2.5), New Jersey (2.2), California (2.0), Connecticut (2.0), the Virgin Islands (1.9), Pennsylvania (1.8), West Virginia (1.8), Massachusetts
(1.7), Illinois (1.6), Nevada (1.6), and Wyoming (1.6).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending September 24 were in Michigan (+2,156), Oregon (+454), Kentucky (+249), Maryland (+241), and Montana (+163), while the largest decreases were in New York (-1,902), Pennsylvania (-1,224), New Jersey (-910), Ohio (-752), and California (-744).