UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending June 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 302,000, a decrease of 35,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 337,000. The 4-week moving average was 327,750, a decrease of 5,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 333,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending May 27, 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 27 was 2,415,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,420,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,407,750, an increase of 8,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,399,250.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 258,854 in the week ending June 3, a decrease of 33,794 from the previous week. There were 289,914 initial claims in the comparable week in 2005.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.7 percent during the week ending May 27, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,168,542, a decrease of 28,597 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 1.8 percent and the volume was 2,342,313.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending May 20.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,204 in the week ending May 27, an increase of 259 from the prior week. There were 1,766 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 153 from the preceding week.

There were 10,753 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending May 20, a decrease of 1,101 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 25,752, a decrease of 344 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending May 20 were in Puerto Rico (4.2 percent), Alaska (3.7), Michigan (2.9), Pennsylvania (2.6), New Jersey (2.4), Oregon (2.3), Connecticut (2.2), Massachusetts (2.2), Rhode Island (2.2), and Wisconsin (2.2).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 27 were in Michigan (+8,811), Texas (+3,271), Georgia (+2,359), California (+2,053), and New York (+1,463), while the largest decreases were in Ohio (-5,335), Pennsylvania (-3,080), Puerto Rico (-1,201), Illinois (-736), and Massachusetts (-693).

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 05/27/2006 

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