Note: This week's release reflects the annual revision to the weekly unemployment claims seasonal adjustment factors. The historical factors from 2000 forward have been revised. See attachment for calendar year 2006 factors.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending March 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 302,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 312,000. The 4-week moving average was 310,750, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average of 312,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending March 18, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 1.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 18 was 2,483,000, an increase of 20,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,463,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,472,750, a decrease of 3,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,476,000.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 263,689 in the week ending March 25, a decrease of 5,476 from the previous week. There were 291,378 initial claims in the comparable week in 2005.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent during the week ending March 18, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,773,885, a decrease of 66,395 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.3 percent and the volume was 2,914,529.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending March 11.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 878 in the week ending March 18, a decrease of 114 from the prior week. There were 1,703 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 247 from the preceding week.

There were 15,646 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending March 11, a decrease of 1,946 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 28,068, a decrease of 729 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 11 were in Alaska (5.6 percent), Michigan (4.3), Puerto Rico (3.9), Pennsylvania (3.8), Wisconsin (3.5), Rhode Island (3.4), New Jersey (3.2), Vermont (3.2), Massachusetts (3.1), Connecticut (2.9), Illinois (2.9), and Oregon (2.9).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 18 were in Wisconsin (+1,121), Missouri (+1,076), Mississippi (+680), Oklahoma (+639), and North Carolina (+333), while the largest decreases were in California (-6,885), Michigan (-5,842), Virginia (-2,136), Illinois (-1,904), and Texas (-1,816).

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 128,767,336 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 03/18/2006 

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

This information will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-693-4676. TDD Message Phone: 1-800-326-2577.  News releases from the U.S. Department of Labor are accessible on the Internet at: http://www.dol.gov/ and  http://www.ows.doleta.gov/     

Attachment: Calendar Year 2006 Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims

	Initial Claims			Continued Claims			I.U.R		Covered
	N.S.A	S.F.	S.A.	N.S.A	S.F.	S.A.	N.S.A	S.A.	Employment
1/7/2006	555114	186	298,000	3162229	124	2,550,000	2.5	2.0	128767336
1/14/2006	439873	156.4	281,000	3044307	118.7	2,565,000	2.4	2.0	128767336
1/21/2006	317926	113	281,000	3051709	120.8	2,526,000	2.4	2.0	128767336
1/28/2006	318805	112.2	284,000	3074962	120.7	2,548,000	2.4	2.0	128767336
2/4/2006	321527	110.1	292,000	3006942	119.6	2,514,000	2.3	2.0	128767336
2/11/2006	310078	97.9	317,000	3017838	120.7	2,500,000	2.3	1.9	128767336
2/18/2006	269571	93.3	289,000	2905648	116.4	2,496,000	2.3	1.9	128767336
2/25/2006	272478	88.4	308,000	2975296	119.5	2,490,000	2.3	1.9	128767336
3/4/2006	301867	97.3	310,000	2860513	116.5	2,455,000	2.2	1.9	128767336
3/11/2006	294764	92.4	319,000	2840280	115.3	2,463,000	2.2	1.9	128767336
3/18/2006	269165	86.3	312,000	2773885	111.7	2,483,000	2.2	1.9	128767336
3/25/2006	263689	87.4	302,000		110.2
4/1/2006		84.4			106.2
4/8/2006		100.3			103.2
4/15/2006		88.3			101.7
4/22/2006		92.2			98.5
4/29/2006		86			96.5
5/6/2006		87.5			93.5
5/13/2006		84.1			92.7
5/20/2006		84.4			90.8
5/27/2006		86.9			89.8
6/3/2006		85.8			92
6/10/2006		96.2			91.6
6/17/2006		89.7			92.4
6/24/2006		91.3			92.4
7/1/2006		97			91.4
7/8/2006		125.4			100.8
7/15/2006		123.8			101.4
7/22/2006		96.6			97
7/29/2006		83.2			95.7
8/5/2006		85.5			93.9
8/12/2006		81.7			93.7
8/19/2006		79.4			91.6
8/26/2006		78.9			90.3
9/2/2006		83			85.7
9/9/2006		77.2			87.8
9/16/2006		83			84.8
9/23/2006		82			84.3
9/30/2006		82			84
10/7/2006		99.7			83
10/14/2006		90.5			86.7
10/21/2006		94.4			86.8
10/28/2006		91.8			88
11/4/2006		105.4			86.5
11/11/2006		92.6			93.2
11/18/2006		113.9			84.1
11/25/2006		90.4			104.4
12/2/2006		138.6			98.5
12/9/2006		125.6			102.5
12/16/2006		114.3			101.7
12/23/2006		133.5			109.2
12/30/2006		153.5			124.8
Note: NSA = Not Seasonally Adjusted; SA = Seasonally Adjusted; IUR = Insured Unemployment Rate.

State Detail Prior Week
UI Claims Series 1967 to current