UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Dec. 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 357,000, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 349,000. The 4-week moving average was 341,250, an increase of 4,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 336,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent for the week ending Nov. 27, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's revised rate of 2.1 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Nov. 27 was 2,796,000, an increase of 91,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,705,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,756,250, a decrease of 3,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,759,250.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 467,554 in the week ending Dec. 4, an increase of 147,256 from the previous week. There were 486,202 initial claims in the comparable week in 2003.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent during the week ending Nov. 27, an increase of 0.5 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,888,190, an increase of 567,228 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.7 percent and the volume was 3,397,952.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Nov. 20.

492 individuals filed continued claims under the Federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program during the week ending Nov. 20.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,179 in the week ending Nov. 27, a decrease of 997 from the prior week. There were 1,200 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 611 from the preceding week.

There were 17,270 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Nov. 20, a decrease of 2,647 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 25,022, a decrease of 3,543 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Nov. 20 were in Alaska (4.8 percent), Puerto Rico (3.2), Oregon (2.9), Michigan (2.8), Pennsylvania (2.7), New Jersey (2.6), Washington (2.6), Arkansas (2.4), Massachusetts (2.4), and Rhode Island (2.3).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Nov. 27 were in Wisconsin (+10,880), Indiana (+2,295), Idaho (+1,895), Pennsylvania (+1,811), and Kentucky (+1,288), while the largest decreases were in California (-14,485), Texas (-4,249), Florida (-4,202), Georgia (-3,738), and New York (-3,593).

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 126,276,799 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 11/27/2004 

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