UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Sept. 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 316,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 322,000. The 4-week moving average was 315,500, a decrease of 500 from the previous week's revised average of 316,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending Sept. 16, 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. 16 was 2,444,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,452,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,466,750, a decrease of 8,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,475,000.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 259,232 in the week ending Sept. 23, a decrease of 7,758 from the previous week. There were 292,435 initial claims in the comparable week in 2005.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.6 percent during the week ending Sept. 16, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,072,639, a decrease of 80,324 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 1.8 percent and the volume was 2,349,781.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Sept. 9.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,058 in the week ending Sept. 16, an increase of 94 from the prior week. There were 1,951 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 125 from the preceding week.

There were 14,417 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Sept. 9, an increase of 285 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 25,373, an increase of 986 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Sept. 9 were in Puerto Rico (3.8 percent), Michigan (2.7), New Jersey (2.7), Alaska (2.5), Pennsylvania (2.5), Arkansas (2.2), South Carolina (2.2), Connecticut (2.1), Massachusetts (2.1), and Oregon (2.1).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Sept. 16 were in Kentucky (+4,794), California (+4,713), South Carolina (+3,161), North Carolina (+2,938), and Missouri (+2,741), while the largest decreases were in Texas (-1,652), Illinois (-1,001), North Dakota (-955), Arkansas (-471), and Oregon (-434).

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 129,945,159 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 09/16/2006 

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