Washington, DC…In the week ending April 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 233,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 242,000. The 4-week moving average was 230,000, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 228,250.

Claims taking procedures in Puerto Rico and in the Virgin Islands have still not returned to normal.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.3 percent for the week ending March 31, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 31 was 1,871,000, an increase of 53,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 10,000 from 1,808,000 to 1,818,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,850,250, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since January 5, 1974 when it was 1,838,500. The previous week’s average was revised up by 3,500 from 1,848,250 to 1,851,750.

UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 231,388 in the week ending April 7, an increase of 30,392 (or 15.1 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 39,473 (or 19.6 percent) from the previous week. There were 239,823 initial claims in the comparable week in 2017.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.4 percent during the week ending March 31, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 1,994,554, a decrease of 8,544 (or -0.4 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 65,437 (or -3.3 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.5 percent and the volume was 2,136,831.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending March 24 was 2,035,137, a decrease of 110,702 from the previous week. There were 2,261,867 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2017.

Extended benefits were payable in Alaska and the Virgin Islands during the week ending March 24.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 583 in the week ending March 31, an increase of 1 from the prior week. There were 599 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 3 from the preceding week.

There were 9,872 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending March 24, a decrease of 1,821 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 8,006, an increase of 103 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 24 were in the Virgin Islands (4.6), Alaska (3.2), New Jersey (2.7), Connecticut (2.6), Puerto Rico (2.5), Massachusetts (2.4), Rhode Island (2.3), California (2.2), Montana (2.2), and Pennsylvania (2.2).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 31 were in Illinois (+2,504), Pennsylvania (+2,443), New Jersey (+2,081), Ohio (+1,496), and Michigan (+1,471), while the largest decreases were in Texas (-3,120), Connecticut (-1,005), Massachusetts (-877), Florida (-641), and New York (-556).