UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending March 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 351,000, a decrease of 24,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 375,000. The 4-week moving average was 359,500, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average of 361,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent for the week ending Feb. 23, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.1 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Feb. 23 was 2,831,000, an increase of 29,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,802,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,789,000, an increase of 12,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,776,250.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 342,855 in the week ending March 1, an increase of 12,785 from the previous week. There were 320,194 initial claims in the comparable week in 2007.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent during the week ending Feb. 23, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,383,128, an increase of 84,766 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.3 percent and the volume was 3,013,239.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Feb. 16.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 843 in the week ending Feb. 23, a decrease of 33 from the prior week. There were 1,284 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 140 from the preceding week.

There were 17,080 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Feb. 16, an increase of 747 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 22,507, a decrease of 709 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Feb. 16 were in Alaska (5.2 percent), Michigan (4.4), Rhode Island (4.1), Pennsylvania (4.0), Idaho (3.9), Wisconsin (3.8), New Jersey (3.5), Oregon (3.5), Montana (3.4), Massachusetts (3.3), and Vermont (3.3).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Feb. 23 were in Massachusetts (+3,908), California (+3,022), Connecticut (+1,993), Louisiana (+1,851), and New Jersey (+1,494), while the largest decreases were in North Carolina (-1,829), Indiana (-1,296), Pennsylvania (-1,118), Tennessee
(-1,090), and Washington (-981).

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 133,010,953 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 02/23/2008 

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