Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report - Released 4/9/09

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending April 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 654,000, a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 674,000. The 4-week moving average was 657,250, a decrease of 750 from the previous week's revised average of 658,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.4 percent for the week ending March 28, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 4.3 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 28 was 5,840,000, an increase of 95,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 5,745,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,647,500, an increase of 146,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 5,500,750.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 4.753 million.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 618,451 in the week ending April 4, an increase of 19,149 from the previous week. There were 357,206 initial claims in the comparable week in 2008.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.8 percent during the week ending March 28, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 6,441,315, an increase of 52,545 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.4 percent and the volume was 3,200,533.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Washington, and Wisconsin during the week ending March 21.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,078 in the week ending March 28, an increase of 25 from the prior week. There were 1,831 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 167 from the preceding week.

There were 18,081 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending March 21, a decrease of 1,518 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 28,448, a decrease of 258 from the prior week.

States reported 1,536,256 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending March 21, an increase of 21,162 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 21 were in Michigan (7.7 percent), Oregon (7.6), Rhode Island (7.5), Puerto Rico (7.2), Idaho (7.0), Wisconsin (6.9), Pennsylvania (6.5), Montana (6.0), Nevada (6.0), and Vermont (6.0).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 28 were in Kentucky (+5,029), Michigan (+4,428), Illinois (+3,498), Ohio (+3,000), and Tennessee (+2,718), while the largest decreases were in California (-7,057), Pennsylvania (-3,302), Missouri (-2,193), Kansas (-1,726), and Minnesota (-1,559).

Full article available at http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20090360.htm