Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending Dec. 2, 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. 2 was 2,477,000, a decrease of 33,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,510,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,472,250, an increase of 9,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,463,000.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 381,697 in the week ending Dec. 9, a decrease of 67,160 from the previous week. There were 391,961 initial claims in the comparable week in 2005.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent during the week ending Dec. 2, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,440,288, a decrease of 180,159 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.0 percent and the volume was 2,542,217.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Nov. 25.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,231 in the week ending Dec. 2, an increase of 933 from the prior week. There were 2,176 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 718 from the preceding week.

There were 18,684 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Nov. 25, an increase of 3,949 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 26,865, an increase of 3,734 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Nov. 25 were in Puerto Rico (5.0 percent), Alaska (4.8), Michigan (3.5), Arkansas (3.3), Wisconsin (3.1), Oregon (2.9), Pennsylvania (2.9), New Jersey (2.8), California (2.6), and South Carolina (2.5).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Dec. 2 were in North Carolina (+16,509), Georgia (+14,316), Pennsylvania (+12,782), New York (+10,365), and California (+9,359), while the largest decreases were in Texas (-5,607), Wisconsin (-4,960), Arkansas (-1,137), Oklahoma (-453), and Indiana (-134).