UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending June 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 330,000, a decrease of 21,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 351,000. The 4-week moving average was 331,750, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 334,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent for the week ending May 28, 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 28 was 2,588,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,592,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,586,500, a decrease of 2,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,588,500.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 287,305 in the week ending June 4, a decrease of 16,741 from the previous week. There were 308,229 initial claims in the comparable week in 2004.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent during the week ending May 28, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,347,555, a decrease of 13,593 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.1 percent and the volume was 2,633,372.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska during the week ending May 21.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,368 in the week ending May 28, an increase of 330 from the prior week. There were 1,799 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 105 from the preceding week.

There were 11,976 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending May 21, a decrease of 705 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 26,701, a decrease of 548 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending May 21 were in Alaska (4.1 percent), Puerto Rico (3.9), Oregon (2.9), Michigan (2.8), Pennsylvania (2.7), New Jersey (2.6), Arkansas (2.5), Massachusetts (2.4), California (2.3), and Rhode Island (2.3).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 28 were in Michigan (+10,419), Kentucky (+3,732), Florida (+2,628), Missouri (+2,136), and Tennessee (+1,972), while the largest decreases were in California (-927), Idaho (-577), Wisconsin (-550), Minnesota (-353), and Washington (-338).

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 05/28/2005 

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