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Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims

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SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending June 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 262,000, unchanged from the
previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 1,000 from 261,000 to 262,000. The 4-week
moving average was 246,750, an increase of 9,250 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the highest level for
this average since November 20, 2021 when it was 249,250. The previous week’s average was revised up by 250 from
237,250 to 237,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending June 3, unchanged
from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the
week ending June 3 was 1,775,000, an increase of 20,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s
level was revised down by 2,000 from 1,757,000 to 1,755,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,778,250, a decrease of
6,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 500 from 1,784,750
to 1,784,250

uNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 249,212 in the week ending June
10, an increase of 28,763 (or 13.0 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of
28,800 (or 13.1 percent) from the previous week. There were 205,890 initial claims in the comparable week in 2022.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.1 percent during the week ending June 3, unchanged from the
prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 1,652,934, an increase of
57,855 (or 3.6 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 38,605 (or 2.4
percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 0.9 percent and the volume was 1,270,456.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending May 27 was 1,619,334, a
decrease of 15,556 from the previous week. There were 1,280,209 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the
comparable week in 2022.

No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending May 27.

Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 427 in the week ending June 3, an
increase of 26 from the prior week. There were 388 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 104
from the preceding week.

There were 4,332 continued weeks claimed filed by former Federal civilian employees the week ending May 27, a
decrease of 91 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 4,098, an increase of 37
from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending May 27 were in California (2.2), New Jersey (2.1),
Massachusetts (1.9), New York (1.6), Oregon (1.6), Puerto Rico (1.5), Rhode Island (1.5), Washington (1.5), Alaska
(1.4), and Illinois (1.4).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending June 3 were in Ohio (+6,447), California (+4,103), Minnesota
(+2,693), Pennsylvania (+2,069), and Tennessee (+732), while the largest decreases were in Connecticut (-2,544), New
York (-1,325), Texas (-617), New Jersey (-560), and Oregon (-450)

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.