UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending June 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 384,000, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 359,000. The 4-week moving average was 371,500, an increase of 2,500 from the previous week's revised average of 369,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.4 percent for the week ending May 31, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.3 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 31 was 3,139,000, an increase of 58,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,081,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,099,250, an increase of 16,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,082,750.  

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 2.882 million.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 370,711 in the week ending June 7, an increase of 69,715 from the previous week. There were 302,368 initial claims in the comparable week in 2007.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent during the week ending May 31, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,831,583, an increase of 73,670 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 1.7 percent and the volume was 2,267,710.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending May 24.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,145 in the week ending May 31, an increase of 208 from the prior week. There were 1,107 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 241 from the preceding week.

There were 10,653 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending May 24, an increase of 70 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 19,348, a decrease of 567 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending May 24 were in Puerto Rico (4.1 percent), Alaska (3.4), Michigan (3.4), Oregon (3.0), Pennsylvania (3.0), California (2.8), New Jersey (2.8), Rhode Island (2.8), Arkansas (2.6), and Nevada (2.6).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 31 were in Texas (+1,010), Oregon (+696), Tennessee (+521), Indiana (+500), and Alabama (+485), while the largest decreases were in California (-4,751), Michigan (-4,129), Florida (-2,657), Ohio (-2,272), and Pennsylvania (-2,100).

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 133,382,559 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 05/31/2008 

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