News Release
U.S. Department of Labor Office of Public Affairs Washington, D.C.

Calendar Year 2010 Seasonal Factors: Seasonal factors for CY 2010 and the revised historical series for CY 2005-2009 for both initial claims and continued claims will be made available on line on March 25, 2010, with the release of the Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending March 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 457,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 462,000. The 4-week moving average was 471,250, a decrease of 4,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 475,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5 percent for the week ending March 6, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.5 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 6 was 4,579,000, an increase of 12,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,567,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,575,250, a decrease of 8,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 4,583,250.

The fiscal year-to-date average of seasonally adjusted weekly insured unemployment, which corresponds to the appropriated AWIU trigger, was 5.166 million.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.1 percent during the week ending March 6, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 5,375,836, a decrease of 163,482 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 4.7 percent and the volume was 6,357,202.

Extended benefits were available in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin during the week ending Feb. 27.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,357 in the week ending March 6, an increase of 67 from the prior week. There were 2,383 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 48 from the preceding week.

There were 23,693 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Feb. 27, an increase of 738 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 36,501, a decrease of 84 from the prior week.

States reported 5,888,048 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Feb. 27, an increase of 360,123 from the prior week. There were 2,086,682 claimants in the comparable week in 2009. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Feb. 27 were in Alaska (7.2 percent), Oregon (6.3), Pennsylvania (6.3), Idaho (6.2), Montana (6.1), Wisconsin (6.1), Puerto Rico (6.0), Michigan (5.6), Nevada (5.6), North Carolina (5.4), and Rhode Island (5.4).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 6 were in North Carolina (+5,100), Illinois (+2,461), Oregon (+1,542), Ohio (+1,301), and Alabama (+1,274), while the largest decreases were in New York (-10,929), California (-7,235), Connecticut (-2,082), Kentucky (-1,950), and West Virginia (-827).

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 03/06/2010 

This information will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-693-4676. TDD Message Phone: 1-800-326-2577.  News releases from the U.S. Department of Labor are accessible on the Internet at: http://www.dol.gov/ and  https://oui.doleta.gov/