UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Dec. 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 317,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 316,000. The 4-week moving average was 315,750, a decrease of 10,250 from the previous week's revised average of 326,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending Dec. 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 Dec. 16 was 2,530,000, an increase of 16,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,514,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,507,000, an increase of 15,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,491,250.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 422,800 in the week ending Dec. 23, an increase of 61,231 from the previous week. There were 433,397 initial claims in the comparable week in 2005.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent during the week ending Dec. 16, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,573,174, a decrease of 4,129 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.1 percent and the volume was 2,691,842.

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

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,931 in the week ending Dec. 16, an increase of 182 from the prior week. There were 1,978 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 216 from the preceding week.

There were 20,069 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Dec. 9, an increase of 2,688 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 26,195, an increase of 927 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Dec. 9 were in Alaska (4.9 percent), Michigan (3.7), Puerto Rico (3.6), Pennsylvania (3.1), Wisconsin (2.9), Arkansas (2.8), New Jersey (2.7), Oregon (2.7), Montana (2.6), and Massachusetts (2.5).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Dec. 16 were in Kentucky (+9,002), California (+6,012), Tennessee (+2,342), New York (+1,285), and North Carolina (+732), while the largest decreases were in Illinois (-7,870), Ohio (-4,180), Indiana (-4,146), Pennsylvania (-4,064), and Georgia (-2,477).

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 130,605,286 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 12/16/2006 

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