UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending May 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 336,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 329,000. The 4-week moving average was 333,500, an increase of 2,750 from the previous week's revised average of 330,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending May 20, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 1.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 20 was 2,433,000, an increase of 19,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,414,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,402,500, a decrease of 2,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,404,500.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 292,105 in the week ending May 27, an increase of 14,700 from the previous week. There were 304,306 initial claims in the comparable week in 2005.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.7 percent during the week ending May 20, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,209,100, a decrease of 28,877 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 1.9 percent and the volume was 2,361,073.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending May 13.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 945 in the week ending May 20, an increase of 36 from the prior week. There were 1,912 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 25 from the preceding week.

There were 11,850 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending May 13, an increase of 473 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 26,084, an increase of 413 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending May 13 were in Puerto Rico (5.0 percent), Alaska (4.1), Michigan (3.1), Pennsylvania (2.6), New Jersey (2.4), Oregon (2.3), California (2.2), Massachusetts (2.2), Rhode Island (2.2), and Wisconsin (2.2).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 20 were in Ohio (+6,563), Pennsylvania (+4,715), Michigan (+2,246), Massachusetts (+950), and New Jersey (+753), while the largest decreases were in Puerto Rico (-23,747), Indiana (-1,649), California (-1,240), Tennessee (-816), and Illinois
(-813).

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 05/20/2006 

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