New Jobless Claims Rise Unexpectedly, Again!

December 17, 2009 The number of new applications for Unemployment Insurance rose to 480,000 by 7,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 473,000 in the week ending 12 December according to the US Department of Labor.

The 4-week moving average was 467,500, a decrease of 5,250 from the previous week's revised average of 472,750.

Insured unemployment ending the week December 5 declined slightly by 5,000⁺ from the adjusted preceding week of 5,181,000 to 5,186,000. The 4 week moving average continued to decline, dropping to 5,318,250, a decrease of 106,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 5,425,000.

However  persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) extended benefits increased by 45,922 during the week ending Nov. 28, from the prior week to 4,266,300 or 82% of all those on UI benefits.

Click here for a larger graph of unemployment claims.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was  3.9 percent for the week ending December 5, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.9 percent.

The economy shed 11,000 jobs in November the government reported in its monthly employment report.

The unemployment rate declined to 17.2 ^(U6) percent, although economists said the job losses were likely to pile up through the rest of the year. In November the number of unemployed persons stood at 15.4 million. Long term unemployment (longer than 27 weeks) grew to 5.9 million, or over 1 in 3 workers at 38.3%.

⁺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 Nov. 28.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Nov. 28 were in Wisconsin (6.4 percent), Oregon (6.3), Alaska (6.2), Nevada (5.5), Puerto Rico (5.4), Michigan (5.3), Pennsylvania (5.3), Arkansas (5.2), Idaho (5.2), North Carolina (5.2), and Washington (5.2).

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