UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending April 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 315,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 304,000. The 4-week moving average was 308,500, an increase of 2,750 from the previous week's revised average of 305,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending April 15, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 1.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 15 was 2,449,000, an increase of 22,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,427,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,432,250, a decrease of 3,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,435,500.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 290,473 in the week ending April 22, an increase of 22,126 from the previous week. There were 299,891 initial claims in the comparable week in 2005.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent during the week ending April 15, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,490,714, a decrease of 14,169 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.1 percent and the volume was 2,612,500.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending April 8.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 897 in the week ending April 15, a decrease of 358 from the prior week. There were 1,635 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 308 from the preceding week.

There were 13,331 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 8, a decrease of 1,700 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 26,261, a decrease of 703 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 8 were in Alaska (4.8 percent), Michigan (3.8), Puerto Rico (3.3), Pennsylvania (3.0), Wisconsin (2.9), Vermont (2.8), New Jersey (2.7), Oregon (2.7), Massachusetts (2.6), and Rhode Island (2.6).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 15 were in Georgia (+2,024), New Jersey (+1,625), and Nevada (+74), while the largest decreases were in California (-11,539), Michigan
(-4,421), Indiana (-3,252), Texas (-2,996), and Ohio (-1,677).

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 129,381,803 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 04/15/2006 

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