UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Feb. 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 338,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 331,000. The 4-week moving average was 335,250, an increase of 7,500 from the previous week's revised average of 327,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent for the week ending Feb. 17, an increase 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 Feb. 17 was 2,640,000, an increase of 134,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,506,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,547,250, an increase of 24,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,523,250.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 299,303 in the week ending Feb. 24, a decrease of 6,592 from the previous week. There were 272,478 initial claims in the comparable week in 2006.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.4 percent during the week ending Feb. 17, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,094,630, an increase of 100,522 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.3 percent and the volume was 2,905,648.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Feb. 10.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 886 in the week ending Feb. 17, a decrease of 361 from the prior week. There were 1,582 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 239 from the preceding week.

There were 16,201 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Feb. 10, a decrease of 4,470 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 24,154, a decrease of 1,190 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Feb. 10 were in Alaska (4.6 percent), Michigan (4.3), Wisconsin (4.1), Pennsylvania (3.6), Rhode Island (3.6), Massachusetts (3.3), New Jersey (3.3), Illinois (3.2), Puerto Rico (3.2), and Vermont (3.2).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Feb. 17 were in Rhode Island (+305), Alabama (+297), Kansas (+193), Idaho (+191), and Mississippi (+156), while the largest decreases were in Ohio (-6,655), Pennsylvania (-4,743), Michigan (-4,087), North Carolina (-3,873), and New Jersey
(-3,813).

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 131,188,612 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 02/17/2007 

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