News Release

ETA Press Release:
Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending May 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 418,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 416,000. The 4-week moving average was 420,750, a decrease of  8,500 from the previous week's revised average of 429,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent for the week ending May 4, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's revised rate of 2.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 4 was 3,862,000, an increase of 82,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,780,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,768,250, an increase of 17,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,750,500.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 353,021 in the week ending  May 11, a decrease of 9,683 from the previous week. There were 331,765 initial claims in the comparable week in 2001.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.8 percent during the week ending May 4, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,537,963, a decrease of  136,027 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.0 percent and the volume was 2,551,534.  

Extended benefits were available in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington during the week ending April 27.

48 states reported that 1,260,190 individuals filed under the Federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program during the week ending April 27.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,180 in the week ending May 4, a decrease of 12 from the prior week. There were 1,022 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 94 from the preceding week.

There were 14,097 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 27, a decrease of 511 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 14,894, an increase of 634 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 27 were in Alaska (5.8 percent), Puerto Rico (5.3), Oregon (4.5), Washington (4.5), California (4.0), South Carolina (3.9), Wisconsin (3.9), Pennsylvania (3.7), Massachusetts (3.6), and Michigan (3.6).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 4 were in Pennsylvania (+3,492), Georgia (+2,392), Texas (+2,137), Missouri (+698), and Puerto Rico (+643), while the largest decreases were in California (-3,508), Michigan (-2,316), New York (-1,441), Connecticut(-1,284), and Florida (-1,100).

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 128,463,889 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 05/04/2002

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000