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In the week ending November 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 336,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 345,000. The 4-week moving average was 348,250, a decrease of 9,250 from the previous week's revised average of 357,500.
 The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent for the week ending October 26, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate. The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending October 26 were in Alaska (4.4), Virgin Islands (4.1), Puerto Rico (3.8), California (3.0), New Jersey (3.0), Connecticut (2.7), Pennsylvania (2.7), District of Columbia (2.6), Illinois (2.4), and Oregon (2.4). The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending October 26 were in Oregon (+2,956), Florida (+2,873), Illinois (+2,460), New York (+2,033), and Pennsylvania (+1,542), while the largest decreases were in California (-4,460), Virginia (-1,807), Washington (-833), Maryland (-431), and Missouri (-343). Click on chart to enlarge Note: “Insured unemployment rate” refers to individuals who are unemployed and receiving UC benefits. Source: USDOL-BLS |
07 November 2013
• U.S. Initial Unemployment Claims 02 November 2013
[Jobless]
04 November 2013
• IRS Announces COLA Increases for Dollar Limitations on Benefits and Contributions
| The Internal Revenue Code provides for dollar limitations on benefits and contributions under qualified retirement plans. IRC Section 415 requires the limits to be adjusted annually for cost-of-living increases.
The IRS announced on October 31, 2013 cost-of-living adjustments applicable to dollar limitations for pension plans and other items for tax year 2014. Click on table to enlarge:
See the complete report at this link: IRS 2014 COLA Adjustments |
01 November 2013
• Usual Weekly Earnings Of U.S. Wage And Salary Workers – Q3 2013
Median weekly earnings of the nation's 105.5 million full-time wage and salary workers
were $771 in the third quarter of 2013 (not seasonally adjusted). This was 1.7 percent higher than a year earlier,
compared with a gain of 1.6 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Consumers (CPI-U) over the same period.
 The women’s-to-men’s earnings ratio varied by race and ethnicity. White women earned 82.8 percent as much as their male counterparts, compared with black (87.1 percent), Asian (77.4 percent), and Hispanic women (90.8 percent). Among the major race and ethnicity groups, median weekly earnings for black men working at full-time jobs were $682 per week, or 78.6 percent of the median for white men ($868). The difference was less among women, as black women's median earnings ($594) were 82.6 percent of those for white women ($719). Overall, median earnings of Hispanics who worked full time ($587) were lower than those of blacks ($630), whites ($794), and Asians ($922). Usual weekly earnings of full-time workers varied by age. Among men, those age 45 to 54 and 55 to 64 had the highest median weekly earnings, $970 and $1,001, respectively. Usual weekly earnings were highest for women age 35 to 64; weekly earnings were $775 for women age 35 to 44, $755 for women age 45 to 54, and $769 for women age 55 to 64. Workers age 16 to 24 had the lowest median weekly earnings, at $430. Among the major occupational groups, persons employed full time in management, professional, and related occupations had the highest median weekly earnings-— $1,338 for men and $962 for women. Men and women employed in service jobs earned the least, $562 and $447, respectively. By educational attainment, full-time workers age 25 and over without a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $479, compared with $659 for high school graduates (no college) and $1,174 for those holding at least a bachelor's degree. Among college graduates with advanced degrees (professional or master's degree and above), the highest earning 10 percent of male workers made $3,436 or more per week, compared with $2,302 or more for their female counterparts. See the complete report at this link: USDOL-BLS |
• U.S. Help-Wanted Advertising – October 2013
”Online advertised vacancies were down 257,900 in October to 4,926,800, according
to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine® (HWOL) Data Series released today. The September
Supply/Demand rate stands at 2.2 unemployed for each vacancy, with a total of 6.1 million more unemployed workers
than the number of advertised vacancies.
 ”Since October 2012, the most striking pattern is that most of the Professional occupations have seen losses while the Production/Service jobs have continued with modest gains. Over the year, higher-wage Professional occupations like Computer &Math jobs (-32,000) and Healthcare professionals (-29,000) lost job demand while lower-wage Production/Service jobs like Transportation (+54,000), Sales (+36,000), and Food service (+33,000) have posted gains." Click on chart to enlarge See the complete report at this link: The Conference Board |
• Statistics About Veterans Day 2013: Nov. 11
”Veterans Day originated as 'Armistice Day' on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual observance, and Nov. 11 became a national holiday beginning in 1938.
 ”The day honors military veterans with parades and speeches across the nation. A national ceremony takes place at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.” See the complete report at this link: USDOC-Census |
31 October 2013
• Social Security Announces 1.5 Percent Benefit Increase for 2014
Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for nearly 63 million Americans will increase 1.5 percent in 2014, the Social Security Administration announced The 1.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits that more than 57 million Social Security beneficiaries receive in January 2014. Increased payments to more than 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 31, 2013. Some other changes that take effect in January of each year are based on the increase in average wages. Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $117,000 from $113,700. Of the estimated 165 million workers who will pay Social Security taxes in 2014, about 10 million will pay higher taxes as a result of the increase in the taxable maximum. Information about Medicare changes for 2014 is available at www.Medicare.gov |
• U.S. Real* Earnings – September 2013 [Inflation, wages, pay, salaries]
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Real average hourly earnings for all employees were unchanged from August to September, seasonally
adjusted. This result stems from a 0.1 percent
increase in average hourly earnings being offset by a 0.2 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index
for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).
Real average weekly earnings decreased 0.1 percent over the month due to an unchanged real average hourly earnings and an unchanged average workweek.  The increase in real average hourly earnings, combined with an unchanged average workweek, resulted in a 0.9 percent increase in real average weekly earnings over this period. Source: USDOL-BLS *Note: Real earnings show the effect of inflation on your pay. If your salary went up by 2.1% over the year while the cost-of-living (CPI-U) rose 1.2%, then the “real” value of your salary rose by 0.9% [differences in some of the data are due to rounding and seasonal adjustment]. The figures reported here are earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls, seasonally adjusted. Click on chart to enlarge |