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

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Oct. 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 512,000, a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 532,000. The 4-week moving average was 523,750, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised average of 526,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.4 percent for the week ending Oct. 24, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 4.4 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Oct. 24 was 5,749,000, a decrease of 68,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 5,817,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,886,250, a decrease of 79,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 5,965,750.  

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.7 percent during the week ending Oct. 24, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,915,719, a decrease of 69,231 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.5 percent and the volume was 3,310,892.

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 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 Oct. 17.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,069 in the week ending Oct. 24, an increase of 174 from the prior week. There were 2,507 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 90 from the preceding week.

There were 21,660 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Oct. 17, an increase of 443 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 33,900, an increase of 819 from the prior week.

States reported 3,459,148 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Oct. 17, an increase of 90,239 from the prior week. There were 836,629 claimants in the comparable week in 2008. EUC weekly claims include both first and second tier activity.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Oct. 17 were in Puerto Rico (6.4 percent), Nevada (5.4), Oregon (5.4), California (4.9), Pennsylvania (4.9), Arkansas (4.8), Wisconsin (4.8), Michigan (4.7), Alaska (4.6), North Carolina (4.6), and South Carolina (4.6).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Oct. 24 were in California (+14,394), North Carolina (+3,190), Oregon (+3,131), Georgia (+2,549), and New York (+2,287), while the largest decreases were in Indiana (-2,346), Puerto Rico (-1,479), Iowa (-969), Nevada (-605), and Florida
(-544).

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 10/24/2009 

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  http://www.ows.doleta.gov/