UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Aug. 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 320,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 317,000. The 4-week moving average was 316,750, an increase of 1,250 from the previous week's revised average of 315,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent for the week ending Aug. 20, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.0 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Aug. 20 was 2,607,000, an increase of 36,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,571,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,582,500, an increase of 6,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,576,000.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 250,597 in the week ending Aug. 27, a decrease of 2,204 from the previous week. There were 276,308 initial claims in the comparable week in 2004.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent during the week ending Aug. 20, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,388,266, a decrease of 30,655 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.1 percent and the volume was 2,614,899.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Aug. 13.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,396 in the week ending Aug. 20, an increase of 110 from the prior week. There were 2,170 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 40 from the preceding week.

There were 17,450 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Aug. 13, an increase of 123 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 29,364, an increase of 24 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Aug. 13 were in Puerto Rico (5.3 percent), New Jersey (3.0), Pennsylvania (3.0), Alaska (2.9), Michigan (2.7), Rhode Island (2.7), Oregon (2.6), Connecticut (2.5), Massachusetts (2.5), and Arkansas (2.3).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Aug. 20 were in New York (+1,030), North Carolina (+1,011), Virginia (+755), Nevada (+541), and Tennessee (+496), while the largest decreases were in South Carolina (-1,730), Georgia (-1,630), California (-1,448), Florida (-1,148), and Iowa
(-970).

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 127,622,590 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 08/20/2005 

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