Weekly Jobless Claims Up, Part Due To Hurricane Ike And Gustav

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending Sept. 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 493,000, an increase of 32,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 461,000. It is estimated that the effects of Hurricane Gustav in Louisiana and the effects of Hurricane Ike in Texas added approximately 50,000 claims to the total. The 4-week moving average was 462,500, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week's revised average of 446,500.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending Sept. 13, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.6 percent.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Sept. 13 was 3,542,000, an increase of 63,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,479,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,489,250, an increase of 28,250 from the preceding week's unrevised average of 3,461,000.
The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 3.042 million.