News Release

ETA Press Release:
Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report

New Seasonal Adjustment Procedure:   This week's release contains and uses seasonal factors developed using a revised methodology. The new procedure is more responsive in depicting changes in seasonal patterns, and will result in a less volatile series. Seasonal factors for 2002 based on the new adjustment methodology and resulting revised historical series for 1988-2002 for both initial and continued claims will be available on April 11, 2002.  See Attachment.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending April 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 438,000, a decrease of 55,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 493,000. The 4-week moving average was 433,750, an increase of  9,750 from the previous week's revised average of 424,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.9 percent for the week ending March 30, an increase of 0.1 percentage point  from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.8 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 30  was 3,779,000, an increase of 145,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,634,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,634,250, an increase of 59,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,574,750.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 428,524 in the week ending  April 6, an increase of 40,642 from the previous week. There were 398,162 initial claims in the comparable week in 2001.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.2 percent during the week ending March 30, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,108,082, an increase of 114,338 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.3 percent and the volume was 2,857,880.  

Extended benefits were available in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington during the week ending March 23.

33 states reported that 680,230 individuals filed under the Federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program during the week ending March 23.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,145 in the week ending March 30, an increase of 228 from the prior week. There were 972 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 15 from the preceding week.

There were 15,685 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending March 23, a decrease of 333 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 15,249, a decrease of 268 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 23 were in Alaska (7.1 percent), Washington (5.0), Oregon (4.8), Idaho (4.5), Michigan (4.5), Massaschusetts (4.4), Puerto Rico (4.2), Pennsylvania (4.1), Wisconsin (4.1), California (3.8), and Illinois (3.8).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 30 were in New York (+3,639), Missouri (+2,705), Wisconsin (+2,398), Oregon (+2,148), and Massachusetts (+2,120), while the largest decreases were in North Carolina (-1,690), Delaware (-1,536), Texas (-1,375), Kentucky (-1,122), and Tennessee (-863).

FOOTNOTES
SA - Seasonally Adjusted Data
NSA - Not Seasonally Adjusted Data
¹ - Prior year is comparable to most recent data.
² - Most recent week used covered employment of 128,673,493 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 03/30/2002

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000

This information will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-693-3900. TDD Message Phone: 1-800-326-2577. 

News releases from the U.S. Department of Labor are accessible on the Internet at: http://www.dol.gov and  http://www.workforcesecurity.doleta.gov