UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending May 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 297,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 306,000. The 4-week moving average was 317,250, a decrease of 11,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 328,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending April 28, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 1.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 28 was 2,555,000, an increase of 65,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,490,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,540,500, an increase of 7,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,532,750.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 273,425 in the week ending May 5, an increase of 5,849 from the previous week. There were 317,239 initial claims in the comparable week in 2006.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent during the week ending April 28, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,455,262, an increase of 7,205 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 1.8 percent and the volume was 2,297,774.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending April 21.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 766 in the week ending April 28, a decrease of 95 from the prior week. There were 1,418 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 68 from the preceding week.

There were 11,987 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 21, a decrease of 3,024 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 22,201, a decrease of 876 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 21 were in Alaska (3.7 percent), Michigan (3.4), Vermont (3.2), Puerto Rico (3.1), Rhode Island (3.1), Massachusetts (2.8), New Jersey (2.8), Pennsylvania (2.7), Wisconsin (2.7), Connecticut (2.6), and Oregon (2.6).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 28 were in Ohio (+620), Iowa (+408), Nevada (+383), Puerto Rico (+320), and New Hampshire (+256), while the largest decreases were in Massachusetts (-5,162), New York (-4,847), North Carolina (-4,048), Michigan (-3,877), and Tennessee (-2,632).

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 131,660,675 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 04/28/2007 

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