505,000 New Unemployment Insurance Claims Last Week

November 19, 2009 The US Department of Labor said the number of people filing new applications for unemployment insurance in the week ending 14 November was unchanged from the revised previous week at 505,000. The 4-week moving average was 519,750, a decrease of 4,500 from the previous week's revised average of 524,250.

Insured unemployment ending the week November 7 decreased by 39,000⁺ from the adjusted preceding week of 5,650,000 to 5,611,000. The 4 week moving average continued to decline, dropping to 5,711,500, a decrease of 83,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 5,795,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3 percent for the week ending November 7.

Click here for a larger graph of unemployment claims.

The economy shed 190,000 jobs in October the government reported in its monthly employment report.

The unemployment rate rose to 17.5 ^(U6) percent, and economists said the job losses were likely to pile up through the rest of the year. In September the number of unemployed persons rose slightly to 15.5 million. Long term unemployment (longer than 27 weeks) grew to 5.6 million, or over 1 in 3 workers at 35.6%. 

⁺So-called continuing claims have fallen from a peak of 6.9 million in June and the drop is likely the combination of fewer new applications for unemployment aid and many jobless workers exhausting their benefits. 

Here are some handy links that has a chart comparing unemployment rates around the world: The G20 Interactive Unemployment Map and state by state interactive map: US States 

Extended benefits were available in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin during the week ending Oct. 31.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Oct. 31 were in Puerto Rico (6.1 percent), Oregon (5.5), Nevada (5.2), Alaska (5.0), California (5.0), Arkansas (4.9), Wisconsin (4.9), Michigan (4.8), Pennsylvania (4.8), and Washington (4.7).

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