News Release

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending June 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 430,000, a decrease of 17,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 447,000. The 4-week moving average was 433,750, an increase of 2,250 from the previous week's revised average of 431,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent for the week ending May 31, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 31 was 3,800,000, an increase of 120,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,680,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,719,250, an increase of 16,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,702,750.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 416,286 in the week ending June 7, an increase of 65,339 from the previous week. There were 378,613 initial claims in the comparable week in 2002.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.7 percent during the week ending May 31, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,458,321, an increase of 160,971 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.6 percent and the volume was 3,356,032.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington during the week ending May 24.

53 states reported that 822,256 individuals filed continued claims under the Federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program during the week ending May 24.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,446 in the week ending May 31, an increase of 298 from the prior week. There were 923 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 140 from the preceding week.

There were 12,238 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending May 24, a decrease of 1,339 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 16,161, a decrease of 1,083 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending May 24 were in Alaska (4.8 percent), Oregon (4.5), Washington (3.9), Pennsylvania (3.7), Puerto Rico (3.6), California (3.4), Arkansas (3.2), Idaho (3.2), Connecticut (3.1), Massachusetts (3.1), Michigan (3.1), and New Jersey (3.1).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 31 were in North Carolina (+5,819), Virginia (+3,048), South Carolina (+1,320), Ohio (+1,141), and Oregon (+1,051), while the largest decreases were in California (-5,663), Illinois (-2,814), New York (-2,638), Indiana (-1,859), and New Jersey (-1,494).

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 05/31/2003 

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

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