UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Oct. 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 355,000, a decrease of 35,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 390,000. The 4-week moving average was 376,000, a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week's revised average of 396,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent for the week ending Oct. 8, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.2 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Oct. 8 was 2,894,000, an increase of 36,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,858,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,852,250, an increase of 59,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,793,250.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 301,498 in the week ending Oct. 15, a decrease of 78,406 from the previous week. There were 279,846 initial claims in the comparable week in 2004.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent during the week ending Oct. 8, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,369,928, a decrease of 2,224 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 1.8 percent and the volume was 2,293,444.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Oct. 1.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,328 in the week ending Oct. 8, an increase of 1,151 from the prior week. There were 2,541 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 556 from the preceding week.

There were 15,209 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Oct. 1, a decrease of 535 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 28,201, a decrease of 62 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Oct. 1 were in Louisiana (10.8 percent), Mississippi (6.8), Puerto Rico (4.1), Alaska (3.2), Arkansas (2.4), New Jersey (2.4), Michigan (2.3), Pennsylvania (2.3), Oregon (2.2), Connecticut (2.0), Massachusetts (2.0), and South Carolina (2.0).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Oct. 8 were in Michigan (+5,287), California (+5,054), Pennsylvania (+4,894), Louisiana (+3,977), and Illinois (+3,928), while the largest decreases were in Minnesota (-467), Kentucky (-409), Maine (-256), Oklahoma (-204), and Alaska (-78).

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 128,182,010 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 10/08/2005 

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