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 30, 2020 COVID-19 Impact The COVID-19 virus continues to impact the number of initial claims and insured unemployment. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending April 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 3,839,000, a decrease of 603,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 15,000 from 4,427,000 to 4,442,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,033,250, a decrease of 757,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 3,750 from 5,786,500 to 5,790,250. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 12.4 percent for the week ending April 18, an increase of 1.5 percentage points from the previous week's revised rate. This marks the highest level of the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate in the history of the seasonally adjusted series. The previous week's rate was revised down by 0.1 from 11.0 to 10.9 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 18 was 17,992,000, an increase of 2,174,000 from the previous week's revised level. This marks the highest level of seasonally adjusted insured unemployment in the history of the seasonally adjusted series. The previous week's level was revised down by 158,000 from 15,976,000 to 15,818,000. The 4-week moving average was 13,292,500, an increase of 3,733,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 39,000 from 9,598,250 to 9,559,250. 1 UNADJUSTED DATA The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 3,489,261 in the week ending April 25, a decrease of 792,387 (or -18.5 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 244,285 (or -5.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 204,755 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 12.2 percent during the week ending April 18, an increase of 1.0 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 17,776,006, an increase of 1,498,784 (or 9.2 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 648,558 (or -4.0 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.1 percent and the volume was 1,647,874. 2 The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending April 11 was 16,339,149, an increase of 3,830,654 from the previous week. There were 1,731,181 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 April 11. Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,141 in the week ending April 18, a decrease of 703 from the prior week. There were 1,515 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 306 from the preceding week. There were 13,335 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 11, an increase of 1,639 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 8,202, an increase of 1,105 from the prior week. The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 11 were in Michigan (21.8), Vermont (21.2), Connecticut (18.5), Pennsylvania (18.5), Nevada (16.8), Rhode Island (16.7), Washington (16.0), Alaska (15.6), New York (14.4), and West Virginia (14.4). The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 18 were in Florida (+326,251), Connecticut (+68,758), West Virginia (+31,811), Louisiana (+12,270), and Texas (+6,504), while the largest decreases were in New York (-189,517), California (-127,112), Michigan (-85,500), Georgia (-72,578), and Washington (-60,980). 3 UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DATA FOR REGULAR STATE PROGRAMS WEEK ENDING Initial Claims (SA) Initial Claims (NSA) 4-Wk Moving Average (SA) WEEK ENDING Insured Unemployment (SA) Insured Unemployment (NSA) 4-Wk Moving Average (SA) Insured Unemployment Rate (SA)2 Insured Unemployment Rate (NSA)2 April 25 3,839,000 3,489,261 5,033,250 April 18 April 18 4,442,000 4,281,648 5,790,250 April 11 Change -603,000 -792,387 -757,000 Change 17,992,000 17,776,006 13,292,500 12.4% 12.2% 15,818,000 16,277,222 9,559,250 10.9% 11.2% +2,174,000 +1,498,784 +3,733,250 +1.5 +1.0 April 11 Prior Year1 5,237,000 230,000 4,965,046 204,755 5,506,500 215,500 April 4 Prior Year1 11,914,000 12,461,658 6,050,750 8.2% 8.6% 1,682,000 1,647,874 1,678,250 1.2% 1.1% INITIAL CLAIMS FILED IN FEDERAL PROGRAMS (UNADJUSTED) WEEK ENDING Federal Employees (UCFE) Newly Discharged Veterans (UCX) April 18 2,141 1,515 April 11 2,844 1,821 Change -703 -306 Prior Year1 533 460 Change +3,804,940 +1,639 +1,105 +93 +444 +22,433 +3,830,654 Prior Year1 1,700,735 9,224 5,745 0 6,005 9,472 1,731,181 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 April 11 16,249,234 13,335 8,202 231 5,850 62,297 16,339,149 April 4 12,444,294 11,696 7,097 138 5,406 39,864 12,508,495 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 145,671,710 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 April 25 Advance Prior Wk Change 64,170 66,432 -2,262 11,187 12,201 -1,014 52,098 72,457 -20,359 16,745 25,404 -8,659 328,042 528,360 -200,318 38,367 67,639 -29,272 33,037 102,808 -69,771 7,754 9,446 -1,692 8,158 8,639 -481 432,465 506,670 -74,205 264,818 247,003 17,815 22,615 26,591 -3,976 8,268 13,023 -4,755 81,245 102,936 -21,691 57,397 72,756 -15,359 28,827 26,901 1,926 28,054 30,596 -2,542 90,824 103,981 -13,157 66,167 91,923 -25,756 7,478 11,769 -4,291 36,471 48,495 -12,024 70,714 80,969 -10,255 81,312 136,707 -55,395 53,561 74,829 -21,268 35,843 36,913 -1,070 52,403 59,602 -7,199 6,619 11,176 -4,557 8,197 12,222 -4,025 45,043 39,496 5,547 14,347 20,414 -6067 71,017 140,139 -69,122 13,712 13,621 91 218,912 205,184 13,728 97,232 106,266 -9,034 6,996 8,065 -1,069 90,760 109,830 -19,070 42,577 46,696 -4,119 46,722 37,209 9,513 131,282 194,594 -63,312 17,087 26,481 -9,394 13,138 18,078 -4,940 65,159 74,362 -9,203 5,389 5,295 94 43,792 67,226 -23,434 254,199 280,761 -26,562 11,830 19,649 -7,819 4,971 6,598 -1,627 88 13 75 74,043 82,729 -8,686 145,757 83,475 62,282 29,576 46,755 -17,179 49,910 55,883 -5,973 2,886 4,381 -1,495 3,489,261 4,281,648 -792,387 Insured Unemployment For Week Ended April 18 Advance Prior Wk Change 142,380 144,327 -1,947 51,690 48,096 3,594 192,164 170,262 21,902 106,460 91,278 15,182 1,895,017 2,422,458 -527,441 229,398 171,434 57,964 313,212 306,047 7,165 52,392 38,451 13,941 50,626 47,465 3,161 491,643 177,021 314,622 756,249 611,889 144,360 68,732 72,161 -3,429 70,257 67,722 2,535 682,580 569,245 113,335 262,355 206,386 55,969 170,990 150,445 20,545 120,557 97,478 23,079 260,726 199,030 61,696 294,706 246,296 48,410 71,582 66,525 5,057 220,723 201,432 19,291 528,178 467,552 60,626 899,362 937,520 -38,158 426,449 391,284 35,165 91,748 93,005 -1,257 253,499 227,557 25,942 67,515 65,073 2,442 75,380 72,078 3,302 272,821 231,618 41,203 107,088 93,783 13,305 624,131 556,005 68,126 94,496 80,986 13,510 1,623,422 1,354,496 268,926 554,119 468,283 85,836 38,810 33,563 5,247 766,562 717,842 48,720 134,284 112,311 21,973 367,950 217,039 150,911 924,697 1,074,660 -149,963 150,908 109,672 41,236 97,501 79,140 18,361 239,065 179,769 59,296 22,830 19,664 3,166 336,089 279,895 56,194 971,387 911,923 59,464 89,427 88,281 1,146 76,525 64,313 12,212 1,472 1,322 150 341,065 297,993 43,072 596,516 535,185 61,331 158,581 96,128 62,453 321,631 299,532 22,099 18,059 14,302 3,757 17,776,006 16,277,222 1,498,784 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 OUI estimate. **Denotes state estimate. 5 Seasonally Adjusted US Weekly UI Claims (in thousands) Week Ending 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 April 4, 2020 April 11, 2020 April 18, 2020 April 25, 2020 Initial Claims 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 6,867 6,615 5,237 4,442 3,839 Change from Prior Week 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 3,560 -252 -1,378 -795 -603 Change from Insured Prior Unemployment Week 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 3,059 1,275 7,446 4,387 11,914 4,468 15,818 3,904 17,992 2,174 4-Week Average 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 2,666.75 4,267.75 5,506.50 5,790.25 5,033.25 6 4-Week Average 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 2,061.00 3,497.75 6,050.75 9,559.25 13,292.50 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 2.1 5.1 8.2 10.9 12.4 INITIAL CLAIMS FILED DURING WEEK ENDED APRIL 18 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 66432 12201 72457 25404 528360 67639 102808 9446 8639 506670 247003 26591 13023 102936 72756 26901 30596 103981 91923 11769 48495 80969 136707 74829 36913 59602 11176 12222 39496 20414 140139 13621 205184 106266 8065 109830 46696 37209 194594 26481 18078 74362 5295 67226 280761 19649 6598 13 82729 83475 46755 55883 4381 4281648 LAST WEEK -11083 194 -26074 -10225 -127112 -36933 68758 -3812 -1335 326251 -72578 -8126 -5508 -38224 -40999 -16988 723 -12296 12270 -1719 -14409 -22844 -85500 -18304 -8835 -42524 -3099 -4057 -19145 -4859 -1281 -5422 -189517 -33889 -1437 -49487 -7785 -17372 -40274 -15593 -4431 -14785 -1064 -4661 6504 -4866 -3064 7 -21890 -60980 31811 -14117 -1413 -683398 YEAR AGO UCFE 1 UCX 1 64497 38 35 11339 7 2 67127 14 12 23991 0 4 484460 267 245 65650 31 63 95346 34 10 9093 0 4 8230 86 0 500759 13 8 242348 42 34 25602 0 8 12106 12 1 94795 11 11 70037 30 26 25078 20 7 29429 1 2 101998 0 3 90330 72 31 11081 2 0 45238 41 28 69693 58 33 131865 66 43 71706 33 30 36041 5 2 57221 8 1 10409 24 7 11464 5 10 36836 4 0 19940 11 7 129402 65 13 12934 5 1 193136 27 30 103609 87 79 7848 22 7 103754 30 74 44659 39 29 33188 47 8 182136 482 270 25437 7 14 14494 7 7 72491 37 33 5116 23 4 65265 46 26 269322 189 193 18546 24 10 5654 1 0 1 0 0 80498 19 8 77727 13 20 45954 2 9 50981 29 12 4025 5 1 4069886 2141 1515 INSURED UNEMPLOYMENT FOR WEEK ENDED APRIL 11 CHANGE FROM ALL PROGRAMS EXCLUDING LAST YEAR RAILROAD STATE (%) 2 WEEK AGO UCFE 1 UCX 1 RETIREMENT 144327 7.5 49002 130457 71 41 144439 48096 15.6 12731 40304 142 27 48268 170262 6.0 49670 149235 179 103 170546 91278 7.6 24767 81609 82 42 91402 2422458 14.0 992504 2060696 2164 1164 2425786 171434 6.4 4841 152399 269 193 171903 306047 18.5 116851 271931 50 64 306162 38451 8.6 8874 34181 10 15 38476 47465 8.2 5241 40840 463 6 47934 177021 2.0 -162427 143333 83 88 177192 611889 14.0 16471 588152 293 229 612411 72161 11.6 23871 65860 83 67 72311 67722 9.2 8583 61652 127 26 67876 569245 9.6 116340 463715 392 193 569840 206386 6.8 58803 190367 49 62 206497 150445 9.8 23113 132015 109 46 150600 97478 7.1 19144 89711 51 42 97571 199030 10.7 16933 181603 160 146 199336 246296 13.0 28764 233078 97 37 246477 66525 11.0 10802 59578 37 15 66577 201432 7.9 40526 176652 228 155 201815 467552 13.1 105952 407844 178 157 467887 937520 21.8 188509 874862 270 131 937921 391284 13.7 49706 344928 159 104 391547 93005 8.4 32268 86364 85 36 93164 227557 8.3 48847 210220 136 79 227831 65073 14.3 11591 57515 425 40 65538 72078 7.5 11662 68256 35 12 72125 231618 16.8 42611 214019 158 60 231838 93783 14.3 13804 90132 24 10 93817 556005 13.8 126617 471811 286 259 556550 80986 10.1 18300 72078 144 55 81185 1354496 14.4 233305 1228240 389 381 1355266 468283 10.6 105294 449578 324 292 468899 33563 8.1 9009 29806 11 16 33592 717842 13.4 95173 666748 167 427 718436 112311 7.2 23981 98780 60 57 112428 217039 11.3 40885 189116 582 89 217710 1074660 18.5 460464 974359 2442 612 1077714 109672 12.8 23198 95772 163 78 109920 79140 16.7 8205 71130 28 22 79190 179769 8.6 52775 166650 50 80 179907 19664 4.7 5233 17709 52 4 19720 279895 9.4 73423 264723 124 96 280151 911923 7.4 279453 804890 693 1146 913762 88281 6.0 15483 80135 162 29 88472 64313 21.2 33109 59914 7 2 64322 1322 3.7 546 1204 0 0 1322 297993 8.0 61202 279544 287 331 298611 535185 16.0 92249 483629 512 701 536398 96128 14.4 47531 86328 59 72 96259 299532 10.5 36685 268078 126 57 299722 14302 5.3 3090 11916 58 6 14367 16277222 11.2 3815564 14573646 13335 8202 16298990 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. * Denotes state estimate. 7 UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED APRIL 18, 2020 STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 State FL CT WV LA TX Change +326,251 +68,758 +31,811 +12,270 +6,504 State Supplied Comment Initial claims estimated by state. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. No comment. No comment. Layoffs in the accommodation and food services, other services, information, retail trade, health care and social assistance, transportation and warehousing, wholesale trade, and administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services industries. STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 State NY CA MI Change -189,517 -127,112 -85,500 GA -72,578 WA OH MO IN PA -60,980 -49,487 -42,524 -40,999 -40,274 IL CO NC -38,224 -36,933 -33,889 AZ MA VA NV MN OR IA PR SC MD WI -26,074 -22,844 -21,890 -19,145 -18,304 -17,372 -16,988 -15,593 -14,785 -14,409 -14,117 KY AL -12,296 -11,083 AR MS HI OK ID NM UT -10,225 -8,835 -8,126 -7,785 -5,508 -5,422 -4,866 State Supplied Comment Fewer layoffs in the retail trade, accommodation and food services, and construction industries. Fewer layoffs in the services industries. Fewer layoffs in the manufacturing, retail trade, and accommodation and food services industries. Fewer layoffs in the accommodation and food services, trade, administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services, health care and social assistance, and other services industries. No comment. No comment. Fewer layoffs in the accommodation and food services and retail trade industries. No comment. Fewer layoffs in the construction, administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services, and health care and social assistance industries. No comment. No comment. Fewer layoffs in the health care and social assistance, accommodation and food services, and manufacturing industries. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. Fewer layoffs in the manufacturing, and administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services industries. No comment. Fewer layoffs in the retail trade, health care and social assistance, transportation and warehousing, accommodation and food services, administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services, manufacturing, and professional, scientific, and technical services industries. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. 8 NH TN RI NE DE MT VT ME -4,859 -4,661 -4,431 -4,057 -3,812 -3,099 -3,064 -1,719 ND WY DC NJ SD -1,437 -1,413 -1,335 -1,281 -1,064 No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. Fewer layoffs in the retail trade, manufacturing, health care and social assistance, accommodation and food services, educational services, professional, scientific, and technical services, arts, entertainment, and recreation, administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services, wholesale trade, and construction industries. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No 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 20-774-NAT Program Contacts: Kevin Stapleton: (202) 321-2810 Media Contact: (202) 693-4676 10