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News Release Connect with DOL at https://blog.dol.gov TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL 8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, April 2, 2020 COVID-19 Impact The COVID-19 virus continues to impact the number of initial claims. Nearly every state providing comments cited the COVID-19 virus. States continued to identify increases related to the services industries broadly, again led by accommodation and food services. However, state comments indicated a wider impact across industries. Many states continued to cite the health care and social assistance, and manufacturing industries, while an increasing number of states identified the retail and wholesale trade and construction industries. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending March 28, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 6,648,000, an increase of 3,341,000 from the previous week's revised level. This marks the highest level of seasonally adjusted initial claims in the history of the seasonally adjusted series. The previous week's level was revised up by 24,000 from 3,283,000 to 3,307,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,612,000, an increase of 1,607,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 6,000 from 998,250 to 1,004,250. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent for the week ending March 21, an increase of 0.9 percentage point from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 21 was 3,029,000, an increase of 1,245,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the highest level for insured unemployment since July 6, 2013 when it was 3,079,000. The previous week's level was revised down by 19,000 from 1,803,000 to 1,784,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,053,500, an increase of 327,250 from the previous week's revised average. This is the highest level for this average since January 14, 2017 when it was 2,062,000. The previous week's average was revised down by 4,750 from 1,731,000 to 1,726,250. 1 UNADJUSTED DATA The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 5,823,917 in the week ending March 28, an increase of 2,903,757 (or 99.4 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 23,150 (or -0.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 183,775 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent during the week ending March 21, an increase of 0.9 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,383,382, an increase of 1,308,646 (or 63.1 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 82,062 (or -4.0 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.3 percent and the volume was 1,908,355. 2 The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending March 14 was 2,105,219, an increase of 98,832 from the previous week. There were 2,040,256 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019. No state was triggered "on" the Extended Benefits program during the week ending March 14. Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,282 in the week ending March 21, an increase of 709 from the prior week. There were 897 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 461 from the preceding week. There were 9,792 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending March 14, an increase of 148 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 5,591, an increase of 384 from the prior week. The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 14 were in Alaska (2.8), Connecticut (2.7), New Jersey (2.6), California (2.4), Massachusetts (2.3), Minnesota (2.3), Rhode Island (2.3), Montana (2.2), Pennsylvania (2.2), Illinois (2.1), and West Virginia (2.1). All states reported increases in initial claims for the week ending March 21. The largest increases were in Pennsylvania (+362,012), Ohio (+189,263), Massachusetts (+141,003), Texas (+139,250), and California (+128,727), while the smallest increases were in the Virgin Islands (+79), South Dakota (+1,571), West Virginia (+2,671), Vermont (+3,125), and Wyoming (+3,136). 3 UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DATA FOR REGULAR STATE PROGRAMS WEEK ENDING Initial Claims (SA) Initial Claims (NSA) 4-Wk Moving Average (SA) WEEK ENDING March 28 6,648,000 5,823,917 2,612,000 March 21 March 21 3,307,000 2,920,160 1,004,250 March 14 Change +3,341,000 +2,903,757 +1,607,750 Change March 14 Prior Year1 282,000 211,000 251,416 183,775 232,500 217,250 March 7 Prior Year1 Insured Unemployment (SA) Insured Unemployment (NSA) 4-Wk Moving Average (SA) Insured Unemployment Rate (SA)2 Insured Unemployment Rate (NSA)2 3,029,000 3,383,382 2,053,500 2.1% 2.3% 1,784,000 2,074,736 1,726,250 1.2% 1.4% +1,245,000 +1,308,646 +327,250 +0.9 +0.9 1,702,000 1,977,272 1,703,500 1.2% 1.4% 1,719,000 1,908,355 1,728,750 1.2% 1.3% INITIAL CLAIMS FILED IN FEDERAL PROGRAMS (UNADJUSTED) WEEK ENDING Federal Employees (UCFE) Newly Discharged Veterans (UCX) March 21 1,282 897 March 14 573 436 Change +709 +461 Prior Year1 602 480 PERSONS CLAIMING UI BENEFITS IN ALL PROGRAMS (UNADJUSTED) WEEK ENDING Regular State Federal Employees Newly Discharged Veterans Extended Benefits3 State Additional Benefits4 STC / Workshare 5 TOTAL March 14 2,071,070 9,792 5,591 0 5,901 12,865 2,105,219 March 7 1,973,584 9,644 5,207 0 5,584 12,368 2,006,387 Change +97,486 +148 +384 0 +317 +497 +98,832 Prior Year1 2,006,493 11,079 6,068 0 5,854 10,762 2,040,256 FOOTNOTES SA - Seasonally Adjusted Data, NSA - Not Seasonally Adjusted Data 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Prior year is comparable to most recent data. Most recent week used covered employment of 145,230,691 as denominator. Information on the EB program can be found here: EB Program information Some states maintain additional benefit programs for those claimants who exhaust regular benefits, and when applicable, extended benefits. Information on states that participate, and the extent of benefits paid, can be found starting on page 4-4 of this link: Extensions and Special Programs PDF Information on STC/Worksharing can be found starting on page 4-8 of the following link: Extensions and Special Programs PDF 4 Advance State Claims - Not Seasonally Adjusted STATE Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California* Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania* Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virgin Islands Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming US Total Initial Claims Filed During Week Ended March 28 Advance Prior Wk Change 80,186 10,892 69,294 14,523 7,847 6,676 89,064 29,348 59,716 26,944 9,275 17,669 878,727 186,333 692,394 60,784 19,774 41,010 33,182 25,100 8,082 18,987 10,776 8,211 14,868 14,462 406 227,000 74,313 152,687 132,386 12,140 120,246 48,861 8,815 40,046 32,240 13,586 18,654 178,133 114,114 64,019 146,243 59,755 86,488 58,453 40,952 17,501 54,739 23,563 31,176 112,726 49,023 63,703 97,830 72,438 25,392 23,535 21,459 2,076 83,536 42,981 40,555 181,062 148,452 32,610 311,086 128,006 183,080 109,896 115,773 -5,877 30,946 5,519 25,427 96,734 42,246 54,488 19,540 15,349 4,191 24,572 15,700 8,872 71,419 92,298 -20,879 27,454 29,379 -1925 205,515 115,815 89,700 28,182 18,105 10,077 366,403 79,999 286,404 170,881 94,083 76,798 12,591 5,662 6,929 272,129 196,309 75,820 44,970 21,926 23,044 42,502 30,054 12,448 405,880 377,451 28,429 45,218 20,148 25,070 28,067 35,847 -7,780 64,856 31,826 33,030 6,645 1,761 4884 94,492 38,077 56,415 275,597 155,426 120,171 28,560 19,690 8,870 14,443 3,784 10,659 160 123 37 114,104 46,277 67,827 187,501 129,909 57,592 14,166 3,536 10,630 110,724 51,031 59,693 4,675 3,653 1,022 5,823,917 2,920,160 2,903,757 Insured Unemployment For Week Ended March 21 Advance Prior Wk Change 12,618 12,487 131 11,028 8,512 2,516 23,761 18,108 5,653 14,733 10,988 3,745 382,466 421,912 -39,446 22,395 21,309 1,086 82,176 44,194 37,982 12,172 5,297 6,875 16,354 7,378 8,976 30,445 33,728 -3,283 107,001 27,507 79,494 11,183 6,426 4,757 15,085 7,869 7,216 132,838 125,437 7,401 30,865 20,778 10,087 54,461 26,496 27,965 17,545 9,973 7,572 23,817 22,328 1,489 55,602 14,143 41,459 21,783 8,703 13,080 47,225 26,467 20,758 182,023 83,127 98,896 90,359 75,075 15,284 165,877 66,787 99,090 8,294 6,667 1,627 48,699 21,538 27,161 19,469 9,818 9,651 6,192 4,859 1,333 57,253 19,822 37,431 27,624 4,024 23,600 158,254 105,840 52,414 20,953 9,288 11,665 316,791 167,214 149,577 73,597 20,652 52,945 9,640 6,169 3,471 213,288 68,323 144,965 24,519 16,854 7,665 63,829 30,523 33,306 136,519 128,029 8,490 16,787 15,239 1,548 32,200 10,857 21,343 29,656 15,111 14,545 3,434 2,674 760 36,300 18,350 17,950 144,542 126,427 18,115 23,245 10,826 12,419 14,136 4,810 9,326 514 584 -70 42,200 21,628 20,572 161,868 62,623 99,245 24,086 14,154 9,932 100,410 43,607 56,803 5,271 3,197 2,074 3,383,382 2,074,736 1,308,646 Note: Advance claims are not directly comparable to claims reported in prior weeks. Advance claims are reported by the state liable for paying the unemployment compensation, whereas previous weeks reported claims reflect claimants by state of residence. In addition, claims reported as "workshare equivalent" in the previous week are added to the advance claims as a proxy for the current week's "workshare equivalent" activity. *Denotes state estimate. 5 Seasonally Adjusted US Weekly UI Claims (in thousands) Week Ending March 23, 2019 March 30, 2019 April 6, 2019 April 13, 2019 April 20, 2019 April 27, 2019 May 4, 2019 May 11, 2019 May 18, 2019 May 25, 2019 June 1, 2019 June 8, 2019 June 15, 2019 June 22, 2019 June 29, 2019 July 6, 2019 July 13, 2019 July 20, 2019 July 27, 2019 August 3, 2019 August 10, 2019 August 17, 2019 August 24, 2019 August 31, 2019 September 7, 2019 September 14, 2019 September 21, 2019 September 28, 2019 October 5, 2019 October 12, 2019 October 19, 2019 October 26, 2019 November 2, 2019 November 9, 2019 November 16, 2019 November 23, 2019 November 30, 2019 December 7, 2019 December 14, 2019 December 21, 2019 December 28, 2019 January 4, 2020 January 11, 2020 January 18, 2020 January 25, 2020 February 1, 2020 February 8, 2020 February 15, 2020 February 22, 2020 February 29, 2020 March 7, 2020 March 14, 2020 March 21, 2020 March 28, 2020 Initial Claims 215 211 203 203 226 230 225 217 213 218 220 220 219 224 222 211 217 211 216 214 218 215 215 219 208 211 215 218 212 218 213 217 212 222 223 211 206 237 229 218 220 212 207 220 212 201 204 215 220 217 211 282 3,307 6,648 Change from Prior Week -4 -4 -8 0 23 4 -5 -8 -4 5 2 0 -1 5 -2 -11 6 -6 5 -2 4 -3 0 4 -11 3 4 3 -6 6 -5 4 -5 10 1 -12 -5 31 -8 -11 2 -8 -5 13 -8 -11 3 11 5 -3 -6 71 3,025 3,341 Change from Insured Prior Unemployment Week 1,719 -13 1,705 -14 1,667 -38 1,659 -8 1,682 23 1,684 2 1,678 -6 1,683 5 1,675 -8 1,695 20 1,700 5 1,677 -23 1,692 15 1,699 7 1,717 18 1,694 -23 1,682 -12 1,699 17 1,692 -7 1,719 27 1,687 -32 1,699 12 1,683 -16 1,683 0 1,675 -8 1,672 -3 1,667 -5 1,698 31 1,689 -9 1,691 2 1,700 9 1,695 -5 1,702 7 1,697 -5 1,665 -32 1,697 32 1,700 3 1,725 25 1,716 -9 1,728 12 1,775 47 1,759 -16 1,735 -24 1,704 -31 1,753 49 1,678 -75 1,729 51 1,693 -36 1,720 27 1,699 -21 1,702 3 1,784 82 3,029 1,245 4-Week Average 219.50 217.25 212.00 208.00 210.75 215.50 221.00 224.50 221.25 218.25 217.00 217.75 219.25 220.75 221.25 219.00 218.50 215.25 213.75 214.50 214.75 215.75 215.50 216.75 214.25 213.25 213.25 213.00 214.00 215.75 215.25 215.00 215.00 216.00 218.50 217.00 215.50 219.25 220.75 222.50 226.00 219.75 214.25 214.75 212.75 210.00 209.25 208.00 210.00 214.00 215.75 232.50 1,004.25 2,612.00 6 4-Week Average 1,728.75 1,722.50 1,705.75 1,687.50 1,678.25 1,673.00 1,675.75 1,681.75 1,680.00 1,682.75 1,688.25 1,686.75 1,691.00 1,692.00 1,696.25 1,700.50 1,698.00 1,698.00 1,691.75 1,698.00 1,699.25 1,699.25 1,697.00 1,688.00 1,685.00 1,678.25 1,674.25 1,678.00 1,681.50 1,686.25 1,694.50 1,693.75 1,697.00 1,698.50 1,689.75 1,690.25 1,689.75 1,696.75 1,709.50 1,717.25 1,736.00 1,744.50 1,749.25 1,743.25 1,737.75 1,717.50 1,716.00 1,713.25 1,705.00 1,710.25 1,703.50 1,726.25 2,053.50 IUR 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 2.1 INITIAL CLAIMS FILED DURING WEEK ENDED MARCH 21 CHANGE FROM STATE NAME Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virgin Islands Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Totals STATE 10892 7847 29348 9275 186333 19774 25100 10776 14462 74313 12140 8815 13586 114114 59755 40952 23563 49023 72438 21459 42981 148452 128006 115773 5519 42246 15349 15700 92298 29379 115815 18105 79999 94083 5662 196309 21926 30054 377451 20148 35847 31826 1761 38077 155426 19690 3784 123 46277 129909 3536 51031 3653 2920160 LAST YEAR WEEK AGO UCFE 1 UCX 1 9073 8672 13 4 6727 6997 2 1 25504 25946 10 1 7893 7012 2 3 128727 146501 134 83 17453 18224 16 14 21660 22592 13 2 10304 10316 5 9 13249 14074 67 0 67850 68960 40 72 6695 7958 10 9 7226 7760 5 1 12555 12482 11 4 103244 106181 12 4 57159 57686 11 20 38723 38680 16 7 21808 22292 1 2 46238 47066 0 0 70183 70819 23 13 20825 20898 0 2 39117 40058 17 14 141003 144151 39 49 122668 123119 65 44 111763 112460 28 30 4372 4589 3 1 38230 38689 2 3 14532 14620 28 3 14905 14970 11 4 85942 90183 7 4 28737 28863 4 4 106348 108330 11 7 17236 17268 2 0 65727 67315 22 9 90550 91287 37 47 5247 5451 9 3 189263 190328 17 82 20090 20354 19 9 25785 26199 33 6 362012 365554 317 48 18976 19146 1 4 34739 35089 0 1 29733 30093 7 9 1571 1590 4 0 35375 35710 35 22 139250 141044 85 139 18385 18817 23 2 3125 3285 1 2 79 99 0 0 43571 44136 10 14 115669 124504 32 75 2671 2796 0 2 45841 45615 10 9 3136 3309 12 0 2668744 2730137 1282 897 INSURED UNEMPLOYMENT FOR WEEK ENDED MARCH 14 CHANGE FROM ALL PROGRAMS EXCLUDING LAST YEAR RAILROAD STATE (%) 2 WEEK AGO UCFE 1 UCX 1 RETIREMENT 12487 0.6 -583 -1782 57 34 12578 8512 2.8 -10 -752 137 11 8660 18108 0.6 513 -879 182 41 18331 10988 0.9 -526 573 70 35 11093 421912 2.4 70568 37066 2364 1263 425539 21309 0.8 49 -1577 278 142 21729 44194 2.7 4408 3067 49 60 44303 5297 1.2 -13 -106 11 12 5320 7378 1.3 632 141 197 7 7582 33728 0.4 1484 -1202 144 103 33975 27507 0.6 2155 3589 155 129 27791 6426 1.0 231 -126 72 46 6544 7869 1.1 -1467 -797 199 16 8084 125437 2.1 -4888 -5877 305 128 125870 20778 0.7 -695 1110 22 23 20823 26496 1.7 -1320 -2834 47 22 26565 9973 0.7 202 -913 28 27 10028 22328 1.2 -612 2011 187 121 22636 14143 0.7 156 69 48 17 14208 8703 1.4 252 537 42 10 8755 26467 1.0 -579 -2446 180 75 26722 83127 2.3 8791 4533 99 90 83316 75075 1.7 -682 -3883 174 65 75314 66787 2.3 5006 9108 123 58 66968 6667 0.6 -431 -817 65 23 6755 21538 0.8 -843 -1735 83 26 21647 9818 2.2 -294 -950 457 19 10294 4859 0.5 -217 -2040 16 8 4883 19822 1.4 347 670 103 46 19971 4024 0.6 115 -216 7 2 4033 105840 2.6 1557 1599 215 275 106330 9288 1.2 -278 -252 195 41 9524 167214 1.8 8946 15052 300 305 167819 20652 0.5 969 629 97 88 20837 6169 1.5 -180 278 15 3 6187 68323 1.3 -193 3088 101 120 68544 16854 1.1 372 2637 54 47 16955 30523 1.6 1521 338 561 58 31142 128029 2.2 -813 -6724 496 183 128708 15239 1.8 -3465 -114 120 72 15431 10857 2.3 165 -640 17 7 10881 15111 0.7 79 746 32 60 15203 2674 0.6 -196 -575 47 3 2724 18350 0.6 -100 651 89 51 18490 126427 1.0 -1478 8433 554 923 127904 10826 0.7 125 696 149 17 10992 4810 1.6 -86 -337 8 2 4820 584 1.7 -8 158 14 0 598 21628 0.6 292 103 176 176 21980 62623 1.9 7035 2947 451 427 63501 14154 2.1 -1240 1586 38 35 14227 43607 1.5 2869 1288 99 28 43734 3197 1.2 -178 290 63 11 3271 2074736 1.4 97464 65419 9792 5591 2090119 Figures appearing in columns showing over-the-week changes reflect all revisions in data for prior week submitted by state agencies. 1. The Unemployment Compensation program for Federal Employees (UCFE) and the Unemployment Compensation for Ex-servicemembers (UCX) exclude claims filed jointly under other programs to avoid duplication. 2. Rate is not seasonally adjusted. The source of U.S. total covered employment is BLS. 7 UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED MARCH 21, 2020 STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 State PA Change +362,012 State Supplied Comment Layoffs in the transportation and warehousing, accommodation and food services, administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services, and health care and social assistance industries. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Layoffs in the accommodation and food services, transportation and warehousing, health care and social assistance, administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services, mining, retail trade, manufacturing, real estate rental and leasing, and construction industries. Layoffs in the service industry. Layoffs in the accommodation and food services, health care and social assistance, manufacturing, retail trade, administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services, arts, entertainment, and recreation, service, professional, scientific, and technical services, construction, transportation and warehousing, educational services, information, management of companies and enterprises, and real estate rental and leasing industries. Layoffs in the retail trade, educational services, health care and social assistance, arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation and food services industries. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Layoffs in the accommodation and food services, health care and social assistance, and manufacturing industries. Layoffs in the health care and social assistance, and administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services industries. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. No comment. Layoffs in the service, retail trade, manufacturing, wholesale trade, construction, and agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industries. Layoffs in the accommodation and food services, arts, entertainment, and recreation, and health care and social assistance industries. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Layoffs in the accommodation and food services, manufacturing, health care and social assistance industries. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. No comment. Layoffs in the accommodation and food services and health care and social assistance industries. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Layoffs in the accommodation and food services industry. No comments. Layoffs in the accommodation and food services, health care and social assistance, service, educational services, and arts, entertainment, and recreation industries. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Layoffs in the accommodation and food services, health care and social assistance, and retail trade industries. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Layoffs in the accommodation and food services, retail trade, health care and social assistance, service, and administrative, support, waste management and remediation services industries. OH MA TX +189,263 +141,003 +139,250 CA MI +128,727 +122,668 WA +115,669 MN NJ IL +111,763 +106,348 +103,244 NC +90,550 NV LA FL +85,942 +70,183 +67,850 NY +65,727 IN +57,159 KY WI +46,238 +45,841 VA MD IA +43,571 +39,117 +38,723 MO +38,230 TN +35,375 RI +34,739 Layoffs in the accommodation and food services, health care and social assistance, transportation and warehousing, and arts, entertainment, and recreation industries. SC NH OR AZ KS CT +29,733 +28,737 +25,785 +25,504 +21,808 +21,660 Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. No comment. No comment. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. 8 ME +20,825 OK PR UT CO +20,090 +18,976 +18,385 +17,453 NM NE MT DC ID DE AL +17,236 +14,905 +14,532 +13,249 +12,555 +10,304 +9,073 AR HI AK GA +7,893 +7,226 +6,727 +6,695 ND MS WY +5,247 +4,372 +3,136 VT WV SD +3,125 +2,671 +1,571 Layoffs in the accommodation and food services, health care and social assistance, manufacturing, retail trade, arts, entertainment, and recreation, and service industries. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. No comment. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. No comment. Layoffs in the arts, entertainment, and recreation and accommodation and food services industries. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. No comment. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Layoffs in the accommodation and food services, health care and social assistance, administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services, retail trade, educational services, and transportation and warehousing industries. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. No comment. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. No comment. Layoffs in the accommodation and food services, health care and social assistance, professional, scientific and technical services, administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services, and retail trade industries. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Layoffs in the construction, mining, administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services, retail trade, and accommodation and food services industries. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. No comment. No comment. STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 State None Change State Supplied Comment 9 TECHNICAL NOTES This news release presents the weekly unemployment insurance (UI) claims reported by each state's unemployment insurance program offices. These claims may be used for monitoring workload volume, assessing state program operations and for assessing labor market conditions. States initially report claims directly taken by the state liable for the benefit payments, regardless of where the claimant who filed the claim resided. These are the basis for the advance initial claims and continued claims reported each week. These data come from ETA 538, Advance Weekly Initial and Continued Claims Report. The following week initial claims and continued claims are revised based on a second reporting by states that reflect the claimants by state of residence. These data come from the ETA 539, Weekly Claims and Extended Benefits Trigger Data Report. A. Initial Claims An initial claim is a claim filed by an unemployed individual after a separation from an employer. The claimant requests a determination of basic eligibility for the UI program. When an initial claim is filed with a state, certain programmatic activities take place and these result in activity counts including the count of initial claims. The count of U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance is a leading economic indicator because it is an indication of emerging labor market conditions in the country. However, these are weekly administrative data which are difficult to seasonally adjust, making the series subject to some volatility. B. Continued Weeks Claimed A person who has already filed an initial claim and who has experienced a week of unemployment then files a continued claim to claim benefits for that week of unemployment. Continued claims are also referred to as insured unemployment. The count of U.S. continued weeks claimed is also a good indicator of labor market conditions. Continued claims reflect the current number of insured unemployed workers filing for UI benefits in the nation. While continued claims are not a leading indicator (they roughly coincide with economic cycles at their peaks and lag at cycle troughs), they provide confirming evidence of the direction of the U.S. economy. C. Seasonal Adjustments and Annual Revisions Over the course of a year, the weekly changes in the levels of initial claims and continued claims undergo regularly occurring fluctuations. These fluctuations may result from seasonal changes in weather, major holidays, the opening and closing of schools, or other similar events. Because these seasonal events follow a more or less regular pattern each year, their influence on the level of a series can be tempered by adjusting for regular seasonal variation. These adjustments make trend and cycle developments easier to spot. At the beginning of each calendar year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) with a set of seasonal factors to apply to the unadjusted data during that year. Concurrent with the implementation and release of the new seasonal factors, ETA incorporates revisions to the UI claims historical series caused by updates to the unadjusted data. Weekly Claims Archives Weekly Claims Data U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The Department's Reasonable Accommodation Resource Center converts Departmental information and documents into alternative formats, which include Braille and large print. For alternative format requests, please contact the Department at (202) 693-7828 (voice) or (800) 877-8339 (federal relay). U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration Washington, D.C. 20210 Release Number: USDL 20-551-NAT Program Contact: Kevin Stapleton: (202) 693-3009 Media Contact: (202) 693-4676 10
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