The following is the unedited transcript of the news release from the U.S. Department of Labor.


SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Jan. 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 325,000, an increase of 36,000 from the previous week''s revised figure of 289,000. The 4-week moving average was 309,250, an increase of 1,500 from the previous week''s revised average of 307,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9% for the week ending Jan. 13, unchanged from the last week unrevised rate of 1.9%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Jan. 13 was 2,484,000, a decrease of 39,000 from the preceding week''s revised level of 2,523,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,462,000, a decrease of 9,500 from the preceding week''s revised average of 2,471,500.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 365,045 in the week ending Jan. 20, a decrease of 144,411 from the previous week. There were 317,926 initial claims in the comparable week in 2006.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent during the week ending Jan. 13, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,928,707, a decrease of 239,746 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.4 percent and the volume was 3,044,307.

Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending Jan. 6.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,653 in the week ending Jan. 13, an increase of 764 from the prior week. There were 2,035 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 260 from the preceding week.

There were 21,126 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Jan. 6, an increase of 2,775 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 26,641, an increase of 1,251 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Jan. 6 were in Alaska (5.1 percent), Michigan (5.0), Puerto Rico (4.4), Pennsylvania (3.8), Wisconsin (3.8), Rhode Island (3.4), New Jersey (3.3), Oregon (3.3), Arkansas (3.2), and Massachusetts (3.2).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Jan. 13 were in California (+10,115), Michigan (+8,870), Texas (+6,418), Puerto Rico (+5,250), and Minnesota (+4,752), while the largest decreases were in New York (-26,764), North Carolina (-10,072), Georgia (-8,987), South Carolina
(-4,697), and Wisconsin (-3,625).


Available at:

http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/current.htm