UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending May 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 340,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 336,000. The 4-week moving average was 324,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average of 322,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent for the week ending April 30, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.0 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 30 was 2,598,000, an increase of 15,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,583,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,590,750, a decrease of 14,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,605,000.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 295,800 in the week ending May 7, an increase of 5,158 from the previous week. There were 292,754 initial claims in the comparable week in 2004.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent during the week ending April 30, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,510,025, a decrease of 54,811 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.2 percent and the volume was 2,836,423.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska during the week ending April 23.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 853 in the week ending April 30, a decrease of 122 from the prior week. There were 1,858 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 123 from the preceding week.

There were 13,328 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 23, a decrease of 1,040 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 26,162, a decrease of 161 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 23 were in Alaska (5.1 percent), Puerto Rico (4.0), Michigan (3.3), Oregon (3.0), Pennsylvania (3.0), New Jersey (2.9), Rhode Island (2.9), Massachusetts (2.8), Connecticut (2.7), and Vermont (2.7).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 30 were in New York (+5,043), Ohio (+2,216), New Jersey (+1,726), Missouri (+1,548), and Illinois (+1,329), while the largest decreases were in Massachusetts (-4,740), Kentucky (-4,444), Texas (-2,575), California (-2,354), and Oklahoma (-2,062).

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 04/30/2005 

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