Weekly Employment Report

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending April 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 448,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 459,000. The 4-week moving average was 462,500, an increase of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average of 461,000.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6 percent for the week ending April 17, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.6 percent.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 17 was 4,645,000, a decrease of 18,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,663,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,639,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 4,648,000.
The fiscal year-to-date average of seasonally adjusted weekly insured unemployment, which corresponds to the appropriated AWIU trigger, was 5.186 million.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 423,286 in the week ending April 24, a decrease of 11,171 from the previous week. There were 583,457 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.7 percent during the week ending April 17, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,779,335, a decrease of 144,978 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 4.7 percent and the volume was 6,339,490.
Extended benefits were available in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, 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 April 10.
Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,219 in the week ending April 17, a decrease of 224 from the prior week. There were 2,441 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 23 from the preceding week.
There were 20,197 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 10, an increase of 113 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 37,051, an increase of 455 from the prior week.
States reported 5,200,473 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending April 10, a decrease of 146,641 from the prior week. There were 2,286,186 claimants in the comparable week in 2009. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 10 were in Alaska (6.6 percent), Puerto Rico (6.4), Oregon (5.9), Wisconsin (5.6), Pennsylvania (5.4), Nevada (5.2), California (5.0), Idaho (5.0), Montana (5.0), Michigan (4.9), and North Carolina (4.9).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 17 were in Puerto Rico (+3,549), Iowa (+1,606), Georgia (+1,412), Connecticut (+768), and Florida (+422), while the largest decreases were in New York (-21,010), California (-15,380), Pennsylvania (-4,512), Oregon (-4,317), and New Jersey (-3,777).
Source: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/current.htm

Federal Reserve Press Release 04.28.10

Press Release

Release Date: April 28, 2010
For immediate release
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March suggests that economic activity has continued to strengthen and that the labor market is beginning to improve. Growth in household spending has picked up recently but remains constrained by high unemployment, modest income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit. Business spending on equipment and software has risen significantly; however, investment in nonresidential structures is declining and employers remain reluctant to add to payrolls. Housing starts have edged up but remain at a depressed level. While bank lending continues to contract, financial market conditions remain supportive of economic growth. Although the pace of economic recovery is likely to be moderate for a time, the Committee anticipates a gradual return to higher levels of resource utilization in a context of price stability.
With substantial resource slack continuing to restrain cost pressures and longer-term inflation expectations stable, inflation is likely to be subdued for some time.
The Committee will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and continues to anticipate that economic conditions, including low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation trends, and stable inflation expectations, are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period. The Committee will continue to monitor the economic outlook and financial developments and will employ its policy tools as necessary to promote economic recovery and price stability.
In light of improved functioning of financial markets, the Federal Reserve has closed all but one of the special liquidity facilities that it created to support markets during the crisis. The only remaining such program, the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, is scheduled to close on June 30 for loans backed by new-issue commercial mortgage-backed securities; it closed on March 31 for loans backed by all other types of collateral.
Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; James Bullard; Elizabeth A. Duke; Donald L. Kohn; Sandra Pianalto; Eric S. Rosengren; Daniel K. Tarullo; and Kevin M. Warsh. Voting against the policy action was Thomas M. Hoenig, who believed that continuing to express the expectation of exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period was no longer warranted because it could lead to a build-up of future imbalances and increase risks to longer run macroeconomic and financial stability, while limiting the Committee’s flexibility to begin raising rates modestly.

Source: http://www.federalreserve.gov/