UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending May 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 323,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 322,000. The 4-week moving average was 330,500, an increase of 500 from the previous week's revised average of 330,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent for the week ending May 14, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.0 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 14 was 2,574,000, a decrease of 22,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,596,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,587,250, an increase of 5,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,581,500.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 275,918 in the week ending May 21, an increase of 614 from the previous week. There were 293,974 initial claims in the comparable week in 2004.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent during the week ending May 14, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,401,221, a decrease of 41,967 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.2 percent and the volume was 2,734,768.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska during the week ending May 7.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 876 in the week ending May 14, a decrease of 167 from the prior week. There were 1,841 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 292 from the preceding week.

There were 12,530 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending May 7, a decrease of 880 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 26,759, a decrease of 218 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending May 7 were in Alaska (4.5 percent), Puerto Rico (4.0), Michigan (3.1), Oregon (3.0), Pennsylvania (2.9), New Jersey (2.7), California (2.4), Massachusetts (2.4), Rhode Island (2.3), and Wisconsin (2.3).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 14 were in Michigan (+1,074), South Carolina (+1,004), Minnesota (+901), Wisconsin (+707), and North Carolina (+664), while the largest decreases were in New York (-12,168), Kentucky (-3,019), Ohio (-2,351), California (-2,032), and Pennsylvania (-1,895).

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 127,095,859 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 05/14/2005 

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