The rate of unemployment continued its decline, with the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims falling to 304,000 for the week ending July 5, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The previous week’s total was 315,000. The 4-week moving average was 311,500, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 315,000.
The seasonally adjusted advance rate of insured unemployment was at 2% for the week ending June 28, which is unchanged from the previous week’s rate.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending June 28 was 2,584,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week's revised level of 2,574,000.
The 4-week moving average was 2,571,250, a decrease of 7,750 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since October 27, 2007 when it was 2,561,750.
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs totaled 322,248 in the week ending July 5, an increase of 16,542 (5.4%) from the previous week. The rate had been projected to increase 9.3%, according to expectations from the DOL.
There were 383,811 initial claims in the comparable week in 2013.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending June 21 was 2,465,792, a decrease of 3,427 from the previous week. There were 4,514,417 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2013.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending June 21 were in Puerto Rico (3.8%), Alaska (3.4%), Pennsylvania (2.9%), Connecticut (2.8%), New Jersey (2.8%), California (2.7%), Nevada (2.6%), Illinois (2.4%), Massachusetts (2.2%), Oregon (2.2%), Rhode Island (2.2%), and Virgin Islands (2.2%).
