UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending May 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 367,000, an increase of 42,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 325,000. The 4-week moving average was 333,250, an increase of 15,750 from the previous week's revised average of 317,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent for the week ending May 6, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 1.8 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 6 was 2,389,000, an increase of 8,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,381,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,413,000, a decrease of 9,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,422,500.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 308,682 in the week ending May 13, an increase of 24,109 from the previous week. There were 275,524 initial claims in the comparable week in 2005.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.7 percent during the week ending May 6, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,234,118, a decrease of 63,618 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 1.9 percent and the volume was 2,443,129.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending April 29.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 971 in the week ending May 6, an increase of 153 from the prior week. There were 2,373 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 795 from the preceding week.

There were 12,812 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 29, an increase of 556 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 26,115, a decrease of 75 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 29 were in Alaska (4.5 percent), Puerto Rico (3.6), Michigan (3.3), Pennsylvania (2.7), New Jersey (2.6), Oregon (2.5), Vermont (2.4), Wisconsin (2.4), California (2.3), and Rhode Island (2.3).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 6 were in Puerto Rico (+20,046), Iowa (+2,251), Texas (+1,358), Michigan (+1,160), and Illinois (+988), while the largest decreases were in New York (-11,332), Ohio (-7,578), New Jersey (-1,495), Alabama (-1,335), and Minnesota (-1,144).

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 05/06/2006 

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