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

Calendar Year 2011 Seasonal Factors: Seasonal factors for CY 2011 and the revised historical series for CY 2006-2010 for both initial claims and continued claims will be made available on line on March 31, 2011 , with the release of the Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending March 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 382,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 387,000. The 4-week moving average was 385,250, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average of 386,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent for the week ending March 12, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.0 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 12 was 3,721,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,723,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,755,250, a decrease of 28,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,783,250.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.4 percent during the week ending March 12, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,260,519, a decrease of 36,286 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 4.1 percent and the volume was 5,344,610.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending March 5 was 8,766,062.

Extended benefits were available in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, during the week ending March 5.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,627 in the week ending March 12, a decrease of 284 from the prior week. There were 2,318 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 173 from the preceding week.

There were 39,439 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending March 5, a decrease of 4,255 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 39,128, a decrease of 983 from the prior week.

States reported 3,627,654 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending March 5, an increase of 85,712 from the prior week. There were 5,625,723 claimants in the comparable week in 2010. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 5 were in Alaska (6.7 percent), Puerto Rico (5.1), Idaho (5.0), Montana (5.0), Rhode Island (5.0), Oregon (4.9), Pennsylvania (4.8), Wisconsin (4.8), New Jersey (4.6), and Connecticut (4.5).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 12 were in North Carolina (+930), Florida (+776), Oregon (+582), Puerto Rico (+509), and South Carolina (+484), while the largest decreases were in New York (-16,917), California (-5,490), Pennsylvania (-1,907), Massachusetts
(-1,778), and Washington (-1,429).

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 03/12/2011 

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/