UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending April 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 334,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 353,000. The 4-week moving average was 336,500, a decrease of 250 from the previous week's revised average of 336,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent for the week ending March 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 March 26 was 2,688,000, an increase of 90,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,598,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,651,750, a decrease of 2,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,653,750.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 289,418 in the week ending April 2, a decrease of 2,712 from the previous week. There were 304,249 initial claims in the comparable week in 2004.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent during the week ending March 26, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,961,648, an increase of 47,082 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.6 percent and the volume was 3,310,942.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska during the week ending March 19.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 945 in the week ending March 26, an increase of 61 from the prior week. There were 1,851 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 42 from the preceding week.

There were 16,418 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending March 19, a decrease of 363 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 25,225, a decrease of 825 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 19 were in Alaska (5.4 percent), Michigan (4.2), Wisconsin (3.7), Pennsylvania (3.5), Massachusetts (3.4), New Jersey (3.4), Rhode Island (3.4), Oregon (3.1), Connecticut (3.0), Idaho (3.0), and Vermont (3.0).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 26 were in California (+5,427), North Carolina (+3,067), Oregon (+2,029), Kentucky (+1,475), and Kansas (+1,191), while the largest decreases were in Texas (-4,146), Michigan (-2,754), Tennessee (-1,911), Ohio (-1,403), and Wisconsin (-1,076).

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 03/26/2005 

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