Labor Department Issues Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims for Week Ending Jan. 5

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 -- The U.S. Department of Labor issued the following weekly report entitled "Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims" for week ending Jan. 5, 2023:

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UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending December 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 204,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 2,000 from 225,000 to 223,000. The 4-week moving average was 213,750, a decrease of 6,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 500 from 221,000 to 220,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending December 24, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 24 was 1,694,000, a decrease of 24,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up 8,000 from 1,710,000 to 1,718,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,687,500, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 2,000 from 1,679,500 to 1,681,500.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 275,552 in the week ending December 31, an increase of 5,703 (or 2.1 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 31,471 (or 11.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 315,753 initial claims in the comparable week in 2022.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent during the week ending December 24, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 1,707,197, an increase of 130,459 (or 8.3 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 154,582 (or 9.8 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.4 percent and the volume was 1,869,759.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending December 17 was 1,601,289, a decrease of 18,444 from the previous week. There were 1,913,405 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021. No state was triggered "on" the Extended Benefits program during the week ending December 17. Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 575 in the week ending December 24, a decrease of 32 from the prior week. There were 310 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 71 from the preceding week.

There were 7,118 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending December 17, an increase of 50 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 4,313, a decrease of 112 from the prior week. The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending December 17 were in Alaska (2.3), New Jersey (2.1), Minnesota (2.0), California (1.9), Puerto Rico (1.9), Massachusetts (1.8), Montana (1.8), Rhode Island (1.8), New York (1.7), and Washington (1.6). The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending December 24 were in Missouri (+4,974), Kentucky (+4,133), Washington (+2,197), New York (+2,079), and Ohio (+2,026), while the largest decreases were in California (-3,243), Georgia (-1,568), Texas (-1,455), Florida (-1,090), and North Carolina (-888).

View figures here: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OPA/newsreleases/ui-claims/20230001.pdf

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Table: UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DATA FOR REGULAR STATE PROGRAMS

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Table: INITIAL CLAIMS FILED IN FEDERAL PROGRAMS (UNADJUSTED)

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Table: CONTINUED WEEKS CLAIMED FILED FOR UI BENEFITS IN ALL PROGRAMS (UNADJUSTED)

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FOOTNOTES

SA - Seasonally Adjusted Data, NSA - Not Seasonally Adjusted Data Continued weeks claimed represent all weeks of benefits claimed during the week being reported, and do not represent weeks claimed by unique individuals. 1. Prior year is comparable to most recent data.

2. Most recent week used covered employment of 143,627,296 as denominator.

3. NOTICE: Ongoing claims for PUA and PEUC are no longer included in this news release. Any ongoing claims for these programs represent activity for periods prior to the programs' expiration on September 6, 2021. Claims activity for these programs will continue to be posted online at: Weekly Pandemic Program Claims

4. Information on the EB program can be found here: EB Program information

5. 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 4-5 of this link: Extensions and Special Programs PDF

6. Information on STC/Worksharing can be found starting on page 4-11 of the following link: Extensions and Special Programs PDF

7. Prior year total includes PUA and PEUC claims.

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Table: Advance State Claims - Not Seasonally Adjusted

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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. On a weekly basis, continued claims are also referred to as insured unemployment, as continued claims reflect a good approximation of the current number of insured unemployed workers filing for UI benefits. The count of U.S. continued weeks claimed is also a good indicator of labor market conditions. 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. For further questions on the seasonal adjustment methodology, please see the official release page for the UI claims seasonal adjustment factors or contact BLS directly through the Local Area Unemployment Statistics web contact form.

Weekly Claims Archives: https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/claims_arch.asp

Weekly Claims Data: https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/claims.asp

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).

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Original text here: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OPA/newsreleases/ui-claims/20230001.pdf