UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending May 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 321,000, a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 341,000. The 4-week moving average was 329,750, an increase of 5,500 from the previous week's revised average of 324,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent for the week ending May 7, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.0 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 7 was 2,601,000, an increase of 5,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,596,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,582,750, a decrease of 7,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,590,250.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 273,917 in the week ending May 14, a decrease of 23,212 from the previous week. There were 297,061 initial claims in the comparable week in 2004.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent during the week ending May 7, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,447,730, a decrease of 60,164 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.2 percent and the volume was 2,772,073.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska during the week ending April 30.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,043 in the week ending May 7, an increase of 190 from the prior week. There were 2,126 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 261 from the preceding week.

There were 13,406 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 30, an increase of 77 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 26,974, an increase of 810 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 30 were in Alaska (4.7 percent), Puerto Rico (4.4), Michigan (3.1), Oregon (3.0), New Jersey (2.8), Pennsylvania (2.8), California (2.6), Massachusetts (2.5), Rhode Island (2.5), and Wisconsin (2.5).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 7 were in New York (+8,113), Kentucky (+2,868), Pennsylvania (+1,507), North Carolina (+1,346), and Mississippi (+1,273), while the largest decreases were in Michigan (-4,724), Connecticut (-2,460), Missouri (-1,471), California (-1,366), and New Jersey (-1,017).

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 05/07/2005 

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