News Release

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Aug. 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 390,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 393,000. The 4-week moving average was 397,250, a decrease of 12,750 from the previous week's revised average of 410,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.9 percent for the week ending July 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 July 26 was 3,691,000, an increase of 72,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,619,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,633,750, a decrease of 22,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,656,000.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 328,089 in the week ending Aug. 2, a decrease of 20,699 from the previous week. There were 326,356 initial claims in the comparable week in 2002.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.8 percent during the week ending July 26, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,539,337, a decrease of 4,147 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.6 percent and the volume was 3,361,794.
 
Extended benefits were available in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington during the week ending July 19.

53 states reported that 836,793 individuals filed continued claims under the Federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program during the week ending July 19.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,427 in the week ending July 26, a decrease of 357 from the prior week. There were 1,379 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 10 from the preceding week.

There were 17,983 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending July 19, an increase of 181 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 16,729, a decrease of 469 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending July 19 were in Oregon (4.3 percent), Puerto Rico (4.2), Pennsylvania (4.0), Alaska (3.9), California (3.6), Michigan (3.6), New Jersey (3.6), Washington (3.6), Connecticut (3.5), and Massachusetts (3.4).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending July 26 were in Louisiana (+872), Georgia (+535), Wisconsin (+135), Montana (+26), and South Dakota (+6), while the largest decreases were in North Carolina
(-12,749), Michigan (-9,749), Ohio (-6,802), California (-4,788), and Tennessee (-4,330).

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 126,541,290 as denominator.
³ - Prior year level based on the reports of 51 states.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 07/26/2003 

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000