UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending May 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 324,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 325,000. The 4-week moving average was 317,250, an increase of 2,500 from the previous week's revised average of 314,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent for the week ending April 29, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 1.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 29 was 2,392,000, a decrease of 49,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,441,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,425,250, a decrease of 7,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,432,500.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 283,795 in the week ending May 6, an increase of 4,151 from the previous week. There were 297,347 initial claims in the comparable week in 2005.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent during the week ending April 29, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,307,873, a decrease of 96,341 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.0 percent and the volume was 2,507,877.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending April 22.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 816 in the week ending April 29, a decrease of 145 from the prior week. There were 1,576 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 50 from the preceding week.

There were 12,337 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 22, a decrease of 1,689 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 26,182, a decrease of 582 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 22 were in Alaska (4.6 percent), Puerto Rico (4.1), Michigan (3.4), Pennsylvania (2.9), New Jersey (2.7), Rhode Island (2.7), Oregon (2.6), Vermont (2.6), Wisconsin (2.6), Connecticut (2.5), and Massachusetts (2.5).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 29 were in Ohio (+7,174), New York (+3,729), Minnesota (+1,059), Alabama (+852), and Michigan (+542), while the largest decreases were in Massachusetts (-4,129), New Jersey (-3,623), Connecticut (-2,959), Wisconsin (-1,850), and California (-1,757).

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 04/29/2006 

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