UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending April 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 320,000, an increase of 21,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 299,000. The 4-week moving average was 323,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised average of 331,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent for the week ending April 16, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.1 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 16 was 2,555,000, a decrease of 76,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,631,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,631,750, a decrease of 10,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,642,500.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 299,295 in the week ending April 23, an increase of 13,874 from the previous week. There were 313,686 initial claims in the comparable week in 2004.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent during the week ending April 16, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,615,905, a decrease of 115,314 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.4 percent and the volume was 3,037,412.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska during the week ending April 9.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,106 in the week ending April 16, a decrease of 261 from the prior week. There were 2,210 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 172 from the preceding week.

There were 14,378 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 9, a decrease of 852 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 25,655, an increase of 163 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 9 were in Alaska (5.3 percent), Michigan (3.7), Puerto Rico (3.6), Pennsylvania (3.4), Oregon (3.2), Wisconsin (3.2), New Jersey (3.1), Massachusetts (2.9), Rhode Island (2.9), and Vermont (2.8).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 16 were in Minnesota (+1,668), Michigan (+526), Kentucky (+525), Tennessee (+142), and Vermont (+86), while the largest decreases were in California (-6,400), Pennsylvania (-5,341), North Carolina (-5,049), New York (-3,177), and Texas (-2,939).

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 127,095,859 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 04/16/2005 

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