UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending March 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 327,000, an increase of 17,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 310,000. The 4-week moving average was 312,500, an increase of 5,750 from the previous week's revised average of 306,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent for the week ending Feb. 26, 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. 26 was 2,703,000, an increase of 39,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,664,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,684,750, a decrease of 7,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,691,750.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 326,792 in the week ending March 5, an increase of 36,216 from the previous week. There were 339,007 initial claims in the comparable week in 2004.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent during the week ending Feb. 26, an increase of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,235,990, an increase of 139,898 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.9 percent and the volume was 3,674,294.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Feb. 19.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 992 in the week ending Feb. 26, an increase of 14 from the prior week. There were 1,647 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 115 from the preceding week.

There were 18,854 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Feb. 19, a decrease of 450 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 26,249, a decrease of 747 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Feb. 19 were in Alaska (6.0 percent), Michigan (4.2), Puerto Rico (3.9), Wisconsin (3.8), Rhode Island (3.7), Idaho (3.6), New Jersey (3.6), Pennsylvania (3.6), Massachusetts (3.5), and Oregon (3.5).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Feb. 26 were in Massachusetts (+4,173), Louisiana (+3,080), Rhode Island (+1,369), Connecticut (+1,084), and Vermont (+692), while the largest decreases were in Kentucky (-3,645), California (-2,876), Illinois (-2,491), Missouri (-2,391), and Ohio (-1,454).

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 02/26/2005 

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