For the the week ending June 22, seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment compensation hit 346,000, the Department of Labor
announced Thursday. That was a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 355,000, originally reported as 354,000. For the comparable week of 2012, claims were 381,000. Initial weekly claims for 2013 have averaged close to the latest figure, about 30,000 below the 2012 average.
The four-week moving average that flattens volatility in the weekly numbers was 345,750, down 2,750 from the previous week's revised average of 348,500.
For all unemployment programs, including the federal emergency extensions passed at the beginning of the Great Recession that officially ended four years ago this month, the total number of people claiming benefits for the week ending June 8 was 4,556,706. That's up 23,146 from the previous week. For the comparable week in 2012, there were 5,890,083 persons claiming compensation in all programs. The year-over-year decrease is partly due to some people finding jobs and partly due to others exhausting their eligibility for compensation.
The 1.71 million Americans now receiving compensation under the federal emergency program, all of whom have been unemployed for at least six months, are now getting at least 10 percent less in their government checks because of the budget sequester. Some states have also cut the maximum amount they provide in compensation each week and the length of time recipients are eligible.