EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION

USDL 03-916-NAT

Program Contact:	TRANSMISSION OF MATERIAL IN THIS
Thomas Stengle (202) 693-2991	RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL
Media Contact :	8:30 A.M. (EST), THURSDAY
(202) 693-4676	December 18, 2003

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Dec. 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 353,000, a decrease of 22,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 375,000. The 4-week moving average was 361,750, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week's revised average of 364,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending Dec. 6, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.6 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Dec. 6 was 3,339,000, an increase of 28,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,311,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,332,250, a decrease of 34,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,366,250.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 411,081 in the week ending Dec. 13, a decrease of 75,048 from the previous week. There were 486,258 initial claims in the comparable week in 2002.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent during the week ending Dec. 6, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,319,014, a decrease of 75,254 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.8 percent and the volume was 3,543,993.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska, Michigan, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington during the week ending Nov. 29.

53 states reported that 807,763 individuals filed continued claims under the Federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program during the week ending Nov. 29.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,517 in the week ending Dec. 6, an increase of 1,249 from the prior week. There were 2,371 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 1,359 from the preceding week.

There were 23,384 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Nov. 29, an increase of 4,029 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 25,188, an increase of 2,848 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Nov. 29 were in Alaska (6.3 percent), Puerto Rico (4.7), Oregon (4.3), Washington (4.1), Wisconsin (3.8), Idaho (3.7), Michigan (3.7), Pennsylvania (3.6), Arkansas (3.4), and California (3.4).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Dec. 6 were in Pennsylvania (+19,492), California (+16,565), North Carolina (+14,790), New York (+11,322), and Georgia (+10,155), while the largest decreases were in Wisconsin (-8,757), Texas (-3,084), Idaho (-1,016), Louisiana (-841), and Arkansas (-456).

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 126,428,924 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 12/06/2003 

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000