In the week ending August 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 316,000, an increase of 12,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 304,000. The 4-week moving average was 298,250, a decrease of 6,250 from the previous week's revised average of 304,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending August 2, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.0 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 2 was 2,264,000, a decrease of 45,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,309,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,304,750, a decrease of 10,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,315,000.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 288,284 in the week ending August 9, an increase of 14,946 from the previous week. There were 285,806 initial claims in the comparable week in 1996.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent during the week ending August 2, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,152,761, a decrease of 29,686 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.1 percent and the volume was 2,334,951.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending July 26.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,816 in the week ending August 2, a decrease of 282 from the prior week. There were 1,821 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 62 from the preceding week.

There were 23,090 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending July 26, a decrease of 603 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 19,093, an increase of 159 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending July 26 were in Puerto Rico (5.9 percent), Rhode Island (4.5), Alaska (3.6), California (2.8), Hawaii (2.8), New Jersey (2.7), Pennsylvania (2.7), Washington (2.6), Oregon (2.5), Arkansas (2.4), and New York (2.4).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending August 2 were in California (+4,637), Kentucky (+2,293), Puerto Rico(+1,229), Arkansas (+522), and Louisiana (+491), while the largest decreases were in Indiana (—5,029), Ohio (—4,070), Tennessee (—1,518), Pennsylvania (—1,127), and Michigan (—998).

August 14, 1997 U.S. Department of Labor

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