3/23 4 wk Unemployment cl ave up 6000, but last week initial UE dropped

I love when the stats are this confusing! We had 302,000 initial claims last week - a drop of 11,000 from the "revised" prior week, but the "more useful" 4 week average is up 6000 to 303,500!

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B14BCD0BF%2D754E%2D4CFD%2D82B2%2DD37936747B4C%7D&dist=newsfinder&symbol=&siteid=mktw

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- First-time claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 11,000 to 302,000 in the week ending March 18, the Labor Department said Thursday. It's down from a revised 313,000 and is the lowest since Feb. 24. The number of people continuing to collect unemployment benefits, meanwhile, rose by 38,000 to 2.472 million, the highest since Feb. 25. The four-week average of continuing claims hit a five-year low of 2.469 million.
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http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/current.htm

March 23, 2006 Calendar Year 2006 Seasonal Factors: Seasonal factors for CY 2006 and the revised historical series for CY 2000-2005 for both initial claims and continued claims will be made available on March 30, 2006, with the release of the Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending March 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 302,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 313,000. The 4-week moving average was 303,500, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's revised average of 297,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending March 11, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 1.9 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 11 was 2,472,000, an increase of 38,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,434,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,469,250, a decrease of 4,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,473,250.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 267,682 in the week ending March 18, a decrease of 27,019 from the previous week. There were 290,719 initial claims in the comparable week in 2005.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent during the week ending March 11, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,850,264, a decrease of 10,270 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.4 percent and the volume was 3,090,703.


Extended benefits were not available in any state during the week ending March 4.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 992 in the week ending March 11, an increase of 92 from the prior week. There were 1,945 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 34 from the preceding week.

There were 17,590 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending March 4, an increase of 940 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 28,793, a decrease of 38 from the prior week.