UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending April 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 296,000, a decrease of 36,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 332,000. The 4-week moving average was 330,250, a decrease of 8,500 from the previous week's revised average of 338,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent for the week ending April 9, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.1 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 9 was 2,638,000, a decrease of 17,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,655,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,644,250, a decrease of 9,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,653,250.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 283,128 in the week ending April 16, a decrease of 56,608 from the previous week. There were 334,965 initial claims in the comparable week in 2004.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent during the week ending April 9, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,737,945, a decrease of 71,501 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.5 percent and the volume was 3,143,186.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska during the week ending April 2.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,361 in the week ending April 9, an increase of 452 from the prior week. There were 2,373 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 399 from the preceding week.

There were 15,227 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 2, a decrease of 281 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 25,489, a decrease of 304 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 2 were in Alaska (5.0 percent), Puerto Rico (4.5), Michigan (3.8), Wisconsin (3.6), New Jersey (3.3), Pennsylvania (3.3), Massachusetts (3.2), Oregon (3.1), Rhode Island (3.1), Idaho (2.9), and Vermont (2.9).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 9 were in California (+11,113), North Carolina (+4,132), Texas (+3,290), Florida (+3,226), and Georgia (+3,033), while the largest decreases were in New Jersey (-3,032), Wisconsin (-2,402), Ohio (-842), Kentucky (-445), and Missouri (-373).

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 127,095,859 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 04/09/2005 

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