Report: Unemployment Claims Edge Upward

There were 473,000 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending Feb. 13, an increase of 31,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 442,000, according to seasonally adjusted data provided by the U.S. Department of Labor. The four-week moving average was 467,500, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 469,000.

The advanced seasonally-adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5 percent for the week ending Feb. 6, which was unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate.

The unadjusted numbers show there were 476,730 initial claims for the week ending Feb. 13, a decrease of 30,850 from the previous week. There were 619,951 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.

The unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.3 percent, a decrease of 0.1 percent from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 5,539,706, a decrease of 150,689 from the preceding week. A year earlier the rate was 4.5 percent and the volume was 5,972,146.

Among states, the highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Jan. 30 were in Alaska (7.2 percent), Puerto Rico (6.9), Idaho and Oregon (6.5).