News Release

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending April 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 448,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 461,000. The 4-week moving average was 442,000, an increase of 1,250 from the previous week's revised average of 440,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.9 percent for the week ending April 19, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.8 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 19 was 3,679,000, an increase of 110,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,569,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,569,500, an increase of 31,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,537,750.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 396,980 in the week ending April 26, a decrease of 2,773 from the previous week. There were 367,350 initial claims in the comparable week in 2002.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.9 percent during the week ending April 19, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,675,375, a decrease of 68,416 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.8 percent and the volume was 3,641,561.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington during the week ending April 12.

53 states reported that 788,603 individuals filed continued claims under the Federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program during the week ending April 12.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 934 in the week ending April 19, a decrease of 372 from the prior week. There were 1,056 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 211 from the preceding week.

There were 14,803 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 12, a decrease of 1,358 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 17,604, a decrease of 651 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 12 were in Alaska (6.1 percent), Oregon (5.0), Washington (4.4), Pennsylvania (4.3), Michigan (4.1), California (4.0), Wisconsin (3.9), Vermont (3.8), Idaho (3.7), Massachusetts (3.7), and Puerto Rico (3.7).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 19 were in North Carolina (+7,049), Ohio (+3,667), Georgia (+2,065), Alabama(+1,129), and Rhode Island (+1,099), while the largest decreases were in Michigan (-13,872), Indiana (-4,119), California (-3,832), Pennsylvania (-3,784), and Texas (-3,412).

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 49 states.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 04/19/2003 

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

This information will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-693-4676. TDD Message Phone: 1-800-326-2577.  News releases from the U.S. Department of Labor are accessible on the Internet at: http://www.dol.gov and  http://www.ows.doleta.gov