UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Feb. 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 312,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 303,000. The 4-week moving average was 308,750, a decrease of 3,250 from the previous week's revised average of 312,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent for the week ending Feb. 12, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.1 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Feb. 12 was 2,650,000, a decrease of 62,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,712,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,696,000, a decrease of 40,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,736,250.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 305,345 in the week ending Feb. 19, a decrease of 3,789 from the previous week. There were 328,171 initial claims in the comparable week in 2004.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent during the week ending Feb. 12, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,227,664, an increase of 11,233 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 3.0 percent and the volume was 3,729,369.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Feb. 5.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,177 in the week ending Feb. 12, a decrease of 266 from the prior week. There were 1,826 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 136 from the preceding week.

There were 20,528 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Feb. 5, an increase of 206 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 27,186, a decrease of 179 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Feb. 5 were in Alaska (6.1 percent), Michigan (4.3), Puerto Rico (4.1), Idaho (3.9), Pennsylvania (3.8), Rhode Island (3.8), Wisconsin (3.8), Massachusetts (3.7), New Jersey (3.7), and Oregon (3.6).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Feb. 12 were in Virginia (+1,138), North Carolina (+659), Kansas (+612), Hawaii (+592), and South Carolina (+275), while the largest decreases were in Pennsylvania (-5,010), New Jersey (-4,525), Michigan (-4,124), California (-3,773), and Illinois (-3,095).

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 126,641,867 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 02/12/2005 

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