UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Nov. 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 349,000, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 324,000. The 4-week moving average was 336,500, an increase of 4,250 from the previous week's revised average of 332,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent for the week ending Nov. 20, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.2 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Nov. 20 was 2,723,000, a decrease of 20,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,743,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,763,750, a decrease of 17,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,781,250.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 320,435 in the week ending Nov. 27, a decrease of 36,286 from the previous week. There were 357,811 initial claims in the comparable week in 2003.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent during the week ending Nov. 20, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,335,927, a decrease of 192,760 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.3 percent and the volume was 2,949,992.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Nov. 13.

630 individuals filed continued claims under the Federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program during the week ending Nov. 13.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,173 in the week ending Nov. 20, an increase of 453 from the prior week. There were 1,808 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 149 from the preceding week.

There were 19,914 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Nov. 13, an increase of 2,784 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 28,563, an increase of 1,351 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Nov. 13 were in Alaska (5.3 percent), Puerto Rico (4.3), Oregon (2.9), Pennsylvania (2.9), New Jersey (2.8), Michigan (2.7), California (2.6), Washington (2.6), Arkansas (2.4), and Massachusetts (2.4).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Nov. 20 were in California (+5,652), Illinois (+3,372), Minnesota (+2,412), New York (+2,131), and Pennsylvania (+1,917), while the largest decreases were in Puerto Rico (-110), North Carolina (-79), and Vermont (-7).

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 126,276,799 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 11/20/2004 

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

State Detail Prior Week
UI Claims Series 1967 to current