UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Nov. 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 321,000, an increase of 12,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 309,000. The 4-week moving average was 317,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised average of 314,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending Nov. 11, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 1.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Nov. 11 was 2,454,000, an increase of 14,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,440,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,435,500, an increase of 3,000 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 365,994 in the week ending Nov. 18, an increase of 79,860 from the previous week. There were 368,859 initial claims in the comparable week in 2005.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent during the week ending Nov. 11, an increase of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,287,176, an increase of 176,996 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.0 percent and the volume was 2,564,292.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Nov. 4.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,433 in the week ending Nov. 11, a decrease of 227 from the prior week. There were 1,684 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 249 from the preceding week.

There were 14,597 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Nov. 4, a decrease of 1,458 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 24,391, a decrease of 1,124 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Nov. 4 were in Puerto Rico (3.6 percent), Alaska (3.4), Michigan (2.8), Arkansas (2.4), New Jersey (2.3), Pennsylvania (2.3), Oregon (2.2), Massachusetts (2.1), South Carolina (2.1), and Wisconsin (2.1).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Nov. 11 were in Mississippi (+547), California (+414), Massachusetts (+258), Idaho (+243), and North Carolina (+55), while the largest decreases were in Kentucky (-5,561), Illinois (-3,829), Pennsylvania (-3,645), Georgia (-2,977), and Florida (-2,291).

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 130,605,286 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 11/11/2006 

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