UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Dec. 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 322,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 319,000. The 4-week moving average was 325,000, an increase of 250 from the previous week's revised average of 324,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent for the week ending Dec. 17, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.1 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Dec. 17 was 2,715,000, an increase of 85,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,630,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,631,000, a decrease of 6,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,637,500.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 428,201 in the week ending Dec. 24, an increase of 69,112 from the previous week. There were 446,699 initial claims in the comparable week in 2004.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent during the week ending Dec. 17, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,701,600, a decrease of 7,593 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.1 percent and the volume was 2,712,542.

Extended benefits were available in Louisiana during the week ending Dec. 10.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,128 in the week ending Dec. 17, an increase of 456 from the prior week. There were 2,122 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 229 from the preceding week.

There were 21,392 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Dec. 10, an increase of 2,160 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 29,257, an increase of 1,018 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Dec. 10 were in Alaska (5.6 percent), Puerto Rico (4.6), Louisiana (4.1), Mississippi (3.8), Michigan (3.6), Pennsylvania (3.1), Wisconsin (2.9), Oregon (2.8), Montana (2.7), and New Jersey (2.7).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Dec. 17 were in New York (+2,383), California (+2,347), Kentucky (+1,093), North Carolina (+622), and Connecticut (+538), while the largest decreases were in Illinois (-7,101), Iowa (-3,502), Ohio (-3,389), Georgia (-3,135), and Tennessee (-2,744).

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 12/17/2005 

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