UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Sept. 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 422,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 419,000. The 4-week moving average was 407,250, an increase of 4,500 from the previous week's revised average of 402,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.9 percent for the week ending Aug. 30, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Aug. 30 was 3,672,000, an increase of 61,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,611,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,636,750, an increase of 11,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,625,750.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 317,598 in the week ending Sept. 6, a decrease of 1,328 from the previous week. There were 318,361 initial claims in the comparable week in 2002.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent during the week ending Aug. 30, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,139,736, a decrease of 117,195 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.4 percent and the volume was 3,052,551.

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

53 states reported that 836,950 individuals filed continued claims under the Federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program during the week ending Aug. 23.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,409 in the week ending Aug. 30, an increase of 196 from the prior week. There were 1,775 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 30 from the preceding week.

There were 18,040 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Aug. 23, an increase of 242 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 18,650, an increase of 828 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Aug. 23 were in Puerto Rico (5.1 percent), Oregon (3.9), Alaska (3.8), Pennsylvania (3.7), New Jersey (3.6), California (3.4), Connecticut (3.4), Washington (3.4), Massachusetts (3.2), and Rhode Island (3.1).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Aug. 30 were in Kentucky (+2,805), Georgia (+1,892), California (+1,217), New York (+1,104), and Delaware (+1,092), while the largest decreases were in Michigan
(-2,889), Alabama (-1,659), North Carolina (-919), Florida (-801), and Texas (-587).

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 53 states.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 08/30/2003 

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000