UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending April 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 342,000, an increase of 19,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 323,000. The 4-week moving average was 323,250, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's revised average of 316,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending March 31, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 1.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 31 was 2,527,000, an increase of 38,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,489,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,507,000, a decrease of 13,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,520,500.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 326,986 in the week ending April 7, an increase of 58,940 from the previous week. There were 314,696 initial claims in the comparable week in 2006.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent during the week ending March 31, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,691,158, a decrease of 36,278 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.0 percent and the volume was 2,571,168.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending March 24.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 881 in the week ending March 31, a decrease of 23 from the prior week. There were 1,540 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 161 from the preceding week.

There were 13,822 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending March 24, a decrease of 2,504 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 23,344, an increase of 409 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 24 were in Alaska (4.3 percent), Michigan (4.1), Puerto Rico (3.6), Rhode Island (3.4), Wisconsin (3.4), Pennsylvania (3.3), New Jersey (3.2), Massachusetts (3.1), Vermont (3.1), Connecticut (2.8), and Illinois (2.8).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 31 were in Oregon (+1,780), Missouri (+1,676), Alabama (+946), Kentucky (+831), and New Jersey (+771), while the largest decreases were in Michigan (-1,681), New York (-1,491), California (-1,489), Florida (-1,338), and Oklahoma (-1,006).

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 131,188,612 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 03/31/2007 

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