UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Sept. 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 298,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 313,000. The 4-week moving average was 311,500, a decrease of 9,750 from the previous week's revised average of 321,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending Sept. 15, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 1.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Sept. 15 was 2,551,000, an increase of 11,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,540,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,570,000, a decrease of 5,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,575,500.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 246,181 in the week ending Sept. 22, a decrease of 15,741 from the previous week. There were 261,396 initial claims in the comparable week in 2006.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.6 percent during the week ending Sept. 15, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,165,425, a decrease of 77,259 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 1.6 percent and the volume was 2,062,962.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Sept. 8.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,033 in the week ending Sept. 15, an increase of 107 from the prior week. There were 1,988 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 342 from the preceding week.

There were 13,615 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Sept. 8, a decrease of 414 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 22,073, an increase of 664 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Sept. 8 were in Puerto Rico (3.4 percent), New Jersey (2.8), Michigan (2.5), Pennsylvania (2.5), Arkansas (2.4), Alaska (2.3), California (2.3), Rhode Island (2.3), Massachusetts (2.2), and Oregon (2.1).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Sept. 15 were in California (+5,370), Florida (+3,510), South Carolina (+2,180), Georgia (+1,608), and Indiana (+1,529), while the largest decreases were in Michigan (-2,711), Wisconsin (-950), Ohio (-702), Arkansas(-537), and Kansas (-328).

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 132,170,980 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 09/15/2007 

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