UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Dec. 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 326,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 331,000. The 4-week moving average was 333,500, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised average of 339,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent for the week ending Dec. 18, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.2 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Dec. 18 was 2,755,000, an increase of 29,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,726,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,751,000, an increase of 9,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,741,750.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 453,654 in the week ending Dec. 25, an increase of 79,058 from the previous week. There were 516,493 initial claims in the comparable week in 2003.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent during the week ending Dec. 18, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,721,778, a decrease of 99,217 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.6 percent and the volume was 3,247,595.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Dec. 11.

565 individuals filed continued claims under the Federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program during the week ending Dec. 11.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,002 in the week ending Dec. 18, an increase of 101 from the prior week. There were 1,636 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 163 from the preceding week.

There were 22,223 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Dec. 11, an increase of 2,451 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 28,864, an increase of 1,639 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Dec. 11 were in Alaska (6.0 percent), Puerto Rico (3.5), Michigan (3.4), Pennsylvania (3.3), Oregon (3.2), Idaho (3.0), Arkansas (2.9), New Jersey (2.9), Washington (2.9), and Wisconsin (2.9).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Dec. 18 were in Michigan (+4,661), Kentucky (+2,731), Virginia (+2,190), Ohio (+2,175), and Texas (+1,888), while the largest decreases were in California (-3,031), Pennsylvania (-2,696), South Carolina (-1,547), Georgia (-1,196), and Alabama
(-1,005).

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 12/18/2004 

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