News Release

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending May 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 425,000, a decrease of 28,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 453,000. The 4-week moving average was 446,000, an increase of 3,250 from the previous week's revised average of 442,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.9 percent for the week ending April 26, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 26 was 3,665,000, an increase of 6,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,659,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,607,000, an increase of 44,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,562,750.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 372,160 in the week ending May 3, a decrease of 29,208 from the previous week. There were 362,681 initial claims in the comparable week in 2002.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.9 percent during the week ending April 26, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,642,881, a decrease of 12,469 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.8 percent and the volume was 3,633,702.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington during the week ending April 19.

53 states reported that 811,550 individuals filed continued claims under the Federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program during the week ending April 19.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,010 in the week ending April 26, an increase of 74 from the prior week. There were 1,120 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 61 from the preceding week.

There were 15,431 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 19, an increase of 831 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 18,033, an increase of 437 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 19 were in Alaska (6.2 percent), Oregon (4.9), Washington (4.3), Pennsylvania (4.2), Idaho (4.0), Michigan (4.0), California (3.9), Connecticut (3.7), Vermont (3.7), and Wisconsin (3.7).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 26 were in New Jersey (+6,563), Massachusetts (+5,616), New York (+4,860), Indiana(+2,220), and Delaware (+1,149), while the largest decreases were in Ohio (-5,587), California (-2,760), North Carolina (-2,302), Michigan (-1,464), and Pennsylvania (-1,464).

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 126,632,357 as denominator.
³ - Prior year level based on the reports of 49 states.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 04/26/2003 

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

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