UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending March 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 303,000, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 295,000. The 4-week moving average was 293,500, an increase of 6,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 287,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending Feb. 25, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 1.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Feb. 25 was 2,506,000, an increase of 29,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,477,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,493,750, a decrease of 11,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,505,250.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 300,738 in the week ending March 4, an increase of 28,349 from the previous week. There were 332,067 initial claims in the comparable week in 2005.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent during the week ending Feb. 25, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,989,181, an increase of 83,606 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.5 percent and the volume was 3,226,999.

Extended benefits were available in Louisiana during the week ending Feb. 18.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 894 in the week ending Feb. 25, a decrease of 6 from the prior week. There were 1,746 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 195 from the preceding week.

There were 17,849 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Feb. 18, an increase of 58 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 29,096, an increase of 123 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Feb. 18 were in Alaska (5.5 percent), Michigan (4.8), Puerto Rico (3.6), Wisconsin (3.6), Pennsylvania (3.5), Rhode Island (3.5), New Jersey (3.3), Massachusetts (3.2), Vermont (3.2), Idaho (3.0), Mississippi (3.0), and Oregon (3.0).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Feb. 25 were in Massachusetts (+3,941), Connecticut (+3,005), New Jersey (+2,397), Kentucky (+1,362), and Wisconsin (+1,096), while the largest decreases were in Pennsylvania (-2,287), California (-927), Michigan (-895), Maryland (-760), and Indiana (-750).

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 02/25/2006 

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