News Release

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending April 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 455,000, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 447,000. The 4-week moving average was 439,250, an increase of 13,250 from the previous week's revised average of 426,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.8 percent for the week ending April 12, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.8 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 12 was 3,589,000, an increase of 42,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,547,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,544,000, an increase of 28,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,515,250.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 394,617 in the week ending April 19, a decrease of 39,413 from the previous week. There were 385,151 initial claims in the comparable week in 2002.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent during the week ending April 12, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,764,345, an increase of 57,366 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.9 percent and the volume was 3,788,429.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington during the week ending April 5.

53 states reported that 802,777 individuals filed continued claims under the Federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program during the week ending April 5.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,304 in the week ending April 12, an increase of 182 from the prior week. There were 1,264 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 65 from the preceding week.

There were 16,330 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 5, an increase of 968 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 18,262, an increase of 15 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 5 were in Alaska (5.9 percent), Oregon (4.9), Puerto Rico (4.5), Washington (4.4), Idaho (4.2), Pennsylvania (4.1), Michigan (4.0), Wisconsin (4.0), California (3.8), and Massachusetts (3.8).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 12 were in Michigan (+11,752), California (+8,927), Pennsylvania (+6,052), Indiana(+2,448), and Louisiana (+2,379), while the largest decreases were in Illinois (-3,237), Massachusetts (-2,183), Arkansas (-1,985), Alabama (-1,818), and Georgia (-1,728).

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 126,632,357 as denominator.
³ - Prior year level based on the reports of 48 states.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 04/12/2003 

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

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