UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Feb.11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 297,000, an increase of 19,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 278,000. The 4-week moving average was 283,000, an increase of 6,250 from the previous week's revised average of 276,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent for the week ending Feb. 4, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.0 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Feb. 4 was 2,511,000, a decrease of 39,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,550,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,532,750, a decrease of 4,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,537,000.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 309,062 in the week ending Feb. 11, a decrease of 12,343 from the previous week. There were 309,290 initial claims in the comparable week in 2005.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent during the week ending Feb. 4, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,016,195, a decrease of 56,865 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.5 percent and the volume was 3,216,436.

Extended benefits were available in Louisiana during the week ending Jan. 28.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,198 in the week ending Feb. 4, a decrease of 280 from the prior week. There were 2,116 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 182 from the preceding week.

There were 19,578 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Jan. 28, a decrease of 1,670 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 29,819, a decrease of 70 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Jan. 28 were in Alaska (6.1 percent), Michigan (4.2), Puerto Rico (4.2), Pennsylvania (4.0), Wisconsin (3.6), Rhode Island (3.5), Mississippi (3.4), New Jersey (3.3), Idaho (3.2), Massachusetts (3.2), and Oregon (3.2).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Feb. 4 were in Missouri (+2,511), Virginia (+2,267), Illinois (+1,948), Minnesota (+1,673), and California (+1,006), while the largest decreases were in Ohio (-2,067), South Carolina (-1,759), Tennessee (-877), Wisconsin (-869), and Alabama
(-827).

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 128,767,336 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 02/04/2006 

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