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, May 14, 2020 COVID-19 Impact The COVID-19 virus continues to impact the number of initial claims and insured unemployment. This report now includes information on claimants filing Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation claims. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending May 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 2,981,000, a decrease of 195,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 7,000 from 3,169,000 to 3,176,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,616,500, a decrease of 564,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 7,000 from 4,173,500 to 4,180,500. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 15.7 percent for the week ending May 2, an increase of 0.3 percentage point from the previous week's revised rate. The previous week's rate was revised down by 0.1 from 15.5 to 15.4 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 2 was 22,833,000, an increase of 456,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 270,000 from 22,647,000 to 22,377,000. The 4-week moving average was 19,760,000, an increase of 2,729,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 67,500 from 17,097,750 to 17,030,250. 1 UNADJUSTED DATA The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 2,614,093 in the week ending May 9, a decrease of 241,467 (or -8.5 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 69,880 (or -2.4 percent) from the previous week. There were 188,264 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. In addition, for the week ending May 9, 29 states reported 841,995 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 14.5 percent during the week ending May 2, a decrease of 0.4 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 21,143,403, a decrease of 629,189 (or -2.9 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 1,051,708 (or -4.8 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.1 percent and the volume was 1,539,086. The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending April 25 was 25,363,208, an increase of 6,443,777 from the previous week. There were 1,659,123 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 25. Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 2,033 in the week ending May 2, an increase of 119 from the prior week. There were 1,252 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 11 from the preceding week. 2 There were 16,854 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending April 25, an increase of 3,084 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 11,758, an increase of 3,086 from the prior week. During the week ending Apr 25, 23 states reported 3,402,409 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and 13 states reported 79,538 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits. The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 25 were in California (27.7), Michigan (23.1), Nevada (22.0), Pennsylvania (21.2), Rhode Island (20.6), Georgia (20.2), Vermont (20.0), New York (18.6), Connecticut (18.0), and Washington (18.0). The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 2 were in Oklahoma (+41,385), Maryland (+25,318), New Jersey (+16,360), Maine (+8,452), and Puerto Rico (+4,600), while the largest decreases were in Florida (-258,243), Alabama (-45,981), Georgia (-38,213), Washington (-37,289), and Pennsylvania (-33,451). 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 May 9 2,981,000 2,614,093 3,616,500 May 2 3,176,000 2,855,560 4,180,500 Change -195,000 -241,467 -564,000 April 25 3,867,000 3,515,439 5,040,250 Prior Year1 217,000 188,264 224,500 May 2 22,833,000 21,143,403 19,760,000 15.7% 14.5% April 25 22,377,000 21,772,592 17,030,250 15.4% 14.9% Change +456,000 -629,189 +2,729,750 +0.3 -0.4 April 18 18,011,000 17,794,965 13,297,500 12.4% 12.2% Prior Year1 1,678,000 1,539,086 1,675,750 1.2% 1.1% INITIAL CLAIMS FILED IN FEDERAL PROGRAMS (UNADJUSTED) WEEK ENDING Pandemic Unemployment Assistance WEEK ENDING Federal Employees (UCFE) Newly Discharged Veterans (UCX) May 9 841,995 May 2 1,002,606 Change -160,611 April 25 788,733 May 2 2,033 1,252 April 25 1,914 1,263 Change +119 -11 Prior Year1 541 553 Change +3,967,215 +3,084 +3,086 +2,407,559 +27,233 +109 +1,565 +33,926 +6,443,777 Prior Year1 1,629,328 8,441 5,692 0 0 0 6,024 9,638 1,659,123 PERSONS CLAIMING UI BENEFITS IN ALL PROGRAMS (UNADJUSTED) WEEK ENDING Regular State Federal Employees Newly Discharged Veterans Pandemic Unemployment Assistance3 Pandemic Emergency UC4 Extended Benefits5 State Additional Benefits6 STC / Workshare 7 TOTAL8 April 25 21,723,230 16,854 11,758 3,402,409 79,538 434 6,527 122,458 25,363,208 April 18 17,756,015 13,770 8,672 994,850 52,305 325 4,962 88,532 18,919,431 FOOTNOTES SA - Seasonally Adjusted Data, NSA - Not Seasonally Adjusted Data 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Prior year is comparable to most recent data. Most recent week used covered employment of 145,671,710 as denominator. Information on the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program can be found in UIPL 16-20: PUA Program information Information on the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program can be found in Unemployment Insurance Program Letter (UIPL) 17-20: PEUC Program information 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 Totals include PUA Unemployment for the appropriate corresponding week. 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 May 9 Advance Prior Wk Change 25,929 28,985 -3,056 8,367 8,718 -351 31,795 43,023 -11,228 12,416 13,448 -1,032 214,028 316,257 -102,229 22,493 28,360 -5,867 298,680 36,138 262,542 5,068 6,297 -1,229 5,746 8,113 -2,367 221,905 174,860 47,045 241,387 228,352 13,035 12,327 15,113 -2,786 5,511 7,495 -1,984 72,993 74,476 -1,483 30,691 42,290 -11,599 16,735 23,241 -6,506 13,138 15,959 -2,821 69,069 82,435 -13,366 40,268 50,941 -10,673 10,131 16,113 -5,982 44,491 63,253 -18,762 44,467 55,884 -11,417 47,438 67,399 -19,961 40,427 41,492 -1,065 22,810 25,745 -2,935 28,939 52,527 -23,588 3,443 4,596 -1,153 6,408 6,418 -10 24,045 28,550 -4,505 9,491 12,475 -2984 68,685 88,326 -19,641 8,850 13,675 -4,825 200,375 195,110 5,265 56,193 85,956 -29,763 3,225 4,044 -819 50,548 61,487 -10,939 32,794 93,885 -61,091 31,737 48,120 -16,383 75,557 94,445 -18,888 14,858 21,886 -7,028 5,318 9,088 -3,770 32,513 47,673 -15,160 5,131 3,929 1202 29,308 36,323 -7,015 141,672 243,935 -102,263 7,135 8,992 -1,857 2,805 3,875 -1,070 37 45 -8 53,396 59,631 -6,235 116,210 102,216 13,994 5,842 13,227 -7,385 38,582 37,885 697 2,686 2,854 -168 2,614,093 2,855,560 -241,467 Insured Unemployment For Week Ended May 2 Advance Prior Wk Change 210,095 214,684 -4,589 50,335 49,893 442 222,411 218,760 3,651 118,917 119,332 -415 2,867,302 4,808,361 -1,941,059 262,082 228,683 33,399 324,284 297,549 26,735 57,766 52,501 5,265 63,468 58,634 4,834 1,018,083 444,561 573,522 809,405 885,764 -76,359 111,207 87,939 23,268 67,106 71,794 -4,688 756,441 695,971 60,470 294,767 271,248 23,519 191,257 179,610 11,647 123,184 120,701 2,483 253,313 256,317 -3,004 317,461 310,013 7,448 85,747 76,773 8,974 249,624 226,972 22,652 576,970 569,956 7,014 988,272 996,374 -8,102 438,112 420,212 17,900 224,941 162,078 62,863 263,609 246,663 16,946 58,230 63,134 -4,904 66,295 68,882 -2,587 319,568 303,573 15,995 116,642 115,580 1,062 710,537 642,651 67,886 103,668 96,157 7,511 1,853,820 1,749,571 104,249 614,270 591,045 23,225 40,032 35,827 4,205 729,844 759,435 -29,591 176,194 154,671 21,523 498,675 308,989 189,686 1,061,110 1,233,299 -172,189 161,598 145,140 16,458 94,708 97,573 -2,865 266,853 260,409 6,444 23,523 23,791 -268 337,600 340,249 -2,649 1,198,838 1,133,324 65,514 91,526 92,872 -1,346 56,938 60,535 -3,597 2,818 1,882 936 392,701 376,689 16,012 771,470 604,048 167,422 117,492 110,377 7,115 313,784 314,025 -241 18,510 17,521 989 21,143,403 21,772,592 -629,189 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 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 May 2, 2020 May 9, 2020 Initial Claims 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 3,867 3,176 2,981 Change from Prior Week -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 -575 -691 -195 Change from Insured Prior Unemployment Week 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 15,819 3,905 18,011 2,192 22,377 4,366 22,833 456 4-Week Average 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 5,040.25 4,180.50 3,616.50 6 4-Week Average 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 9,559.50 13,297.50 17,030.25 19,760.00 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 2.1 5.1 8.2 10.9 12.4 15.4 15.7 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance 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 PUA Initial Claims Filed During Week Ended May 9 Advance Prior Wk Change 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 136,659 297,738 -161,079 9,125 13,149 -4,024 10,624 0 10,624 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3,985 0 3,985 0 0 0 68,835 0 68,835 3,910 4,509 -599 0 0 0 0 0 0 17,583 20,245 -2,662 9,647 10,498 -851 18,982 44,280 -25,298 70,464 68,826 1,638 138,048 86,009 52,039 2,311 1,015 1,296 0 0 0 7,082 17,784 -10,702 2,163 3,524 -1,361 1,784 1,633 151 0 0 0 0 0 0 51,234 76,100 -24,866 4,670 17,850 -13,180 53,042 38,700 14,342 52,351 89,951 -37,600 526 5,827 -5,301 0 0 0 7,162 2,124 5,038 0 0 0 51,591 43,889 7,702 0 0 0 4,954 5,815 -861 0 0 0 693 99 594 5,914 10,617 -4,703 47,088 56,548 -9,460 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 48,665 66,652 -17,987 0 0 0 11,194 18,652 -7,458 1,709 572 1,137 841,995 1,002,606 -160,611 PUA Continued Claims For Week Ended Apr 25 Apr 25 Apr 18 Change 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 528,585 0 528,585 92,190 104,713 -12,523 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13,075 10,285 2,790 0 0 0 4,700 0 4,700 86,524 80,693 5,831 49,652 0 49,652 111,998 0 111,998 493,083 171,598 321,485 1,006,060 0 1,006,060 27,993 1,801 26,192 0 0 0 62,350 65,947 -3,597 57,607 0 57,607 17,001 0 17,001 0 0 0 0 0 0 150,500 0 150,500 56,070 0 56,070 20,985 417 20,568 134,767 92,518 42,249 6,808 0 6,808 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 26,554 26,384 170 0 0 0 123 0 123 86,810 0 86,810 127,634 90,449 37,185 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 241,340 350,045 -108,705 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3,402,409 994,850 2,407,559 Note: Information on the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program can be found in UIPL 16-20: PUA Program information 7 Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation 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 April 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 193 0 0 0 0 0 11 15 2,361 0 8,457 10,619 0 213 0 0 0 0 0 1,030 43,414 0 0 0 0 0 1,251 0 0 0 0 60 0 0 0 0 0 11,899 15 0 0 79,538 PEUC Claims Filed During Weeks Ended: April 18 Change April 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 10 0 0 0 8,363 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 33,362 0 0 0 0 0 1,076 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9,471 16 0 0 52,305 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 193 0 0 0 0 0 4 5 2,361 0 8,457 2,256 0 213 0 0 0 0 0 1,030 10,052 0 0 0 0 0 175 0 0 0 0 60 0 0 0 0 0 2,428 -1 0 0 27,233 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 3 0 0 0 2,378 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 18,010 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7,015 2 0 0 27,416 April 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3,802 0 0 0 3,802 Note: Information on the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program can be found in Unemployment Insurance Program Letter (UIPL) 17-20: PEUC Program information 8 INITIAL CLAIMS FILED DURING WEEK ENDED MAY 2 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 28,985 8,718 43,023 13,448 316,257 28,360 36,138 6,297 8,113 174,860 228,352 15,113 7,495 74,476 42,290 23,241 15,959 82,435 50,941 16,113 63,253 55,884 67,399 41,492 25,745 52,527 4,596 6,418 28,550 12,475 88,326 13,675 195,110 85,956 4,044 61,487 93,885 48,120 94,445 21,886 9,088 47,673 3,929 36,323 243,935 8,992 3,875 45 59,631 102,216 13,227 37,885 2,854 2,855,560 LAST WEEK -45,981 -1,595 -9,558 -4,223 -9,086 -10,302 3,097 -1,650 -595 -258,243 -38,213 -7,382 -1,332 -26,846 -13,484 -3,979 -8,524 -8,788 -15,200 8,452 25,318 -15,474 -14,605 -7,103 -4,161 -2,772 -2,456 -1,811 -13,991 -2,526 16,360 1,582 -24,303 -12,985 -2,230 -32,112 41,385 -1,180 -33,451 4,600 -3,996 -18,765 -1,606 -6,482 -10,149 -2,746 -1,242 -58 -12,857 -37,289 -16,591 -12,108 -643 -659,879 YEAR AGO UCFE 1 UCX 1 26,511 41 27 7,895 11 2 38,388 12 1 11,971 3 0 277,865 197 174 26,547 20 20 33,661 35 12 5,808 5 13 7,689 63 1 168,598 78 37 223,501 60 49 13,993 1 5 6,673 13 2 65,156 16 14 40,204 32 17 20,568 25 9 13,934 4 3 80,497 3 0 48,932 63 33 15,540 0 0 60,818 10 3 51,587 83 42 62,762 56 26 38,968 32 19 24,654 11 2 49,339 1 1 3,834 16 2 5,855 13 6 26,387 8 2 12,064 30 10 80,787 86 64 12,982 2 4 167,165 54 38 82,919 80 90 3,766 18 3 55,969 12 44 91,893 36 15 45,082 41 15 82,468 298 95 20,622 12 7 8,458 10 6 45,755 35 35 3,762 22 5 34,169 54 18 231,187 220 217 8,065 22 10 3,495 0 0 18 0 0 57,290 18 23 96,950 19 16 12,346 4 1 33,655 45 12 2,525 3 2 2,651,527 2,033 1,252 INSURED UNEMPLOYMENT FOR WEEK ENDED APRIL 25 CHANGE FROM ALL PROGRAMS EXCLUDING LAST YEAR RAILROAD STATE (%) 2 WEEK AGO UCFE 1 UCX 1 RETIREMENT 214,684 11.1 40,829 200,784 98 52 214,834 49,893 16.2 -2,129 42,381 117 24 50,034 218,760 7.6 22,359 195,027 197 135 219,092 119,332 10.0 9,995 109,708 115 53 119,500 4,808,361 27.7 2,920,786 4,465,900 3,966 3,269 4,815,596 228,683 8.6 -30 209,966 266 221 229,170 297,549 18.0 -11,562 266,691 198 260 298,007 52,501 11.8 7,524 47,174 20 14 52,535 58,634 10.1 6,100 52,064 619 5 59,258 444,561 5.2 -95,993 411,380 196 128 444,885 885,764 20.2 126,908 861,865 474 325 886,563 87,939 14.2 19,459 81,426 95 50 88,084 71,794 9.8 378 66,382 99 32 71,925 695,971 11.8 14,969 600,087 407 186 696,564 271,248 8.9 17,319 257,664 53 92 271,393 179,610 11.7 10,639 164,965 123 49 179,782 120,701 8.8 1,679 113,112 78 53 120,832 256,317 13.5 -4,475 240,148 153 165 256,635 310,013 16.4 9,356 296,172 99 40 310,152 76,773 12.7 3,632 70,728 49 12 76,834 226,972 8.9 2,712 203,240 197 147 227,316 569,956 16.0 37,448 514,283 218 177 570,351 996,374 23.1 61,775 947,060 267 147 996,788 420,212 14.7 3,219 383,752 166 127 420,505 162,078 14.6 26,356 154,723 130 53 162,261 246,663 8.8 -9,135 229,021 154 91 246,908 63,134 13.8 -4,339 57,145 296 35 63,465 68,882 7.1 -7,746 65,577 18 9 68,909 303,573 22.0 28,723 285,572 177 93 303,843 115,580 17.8 8,739 111,679 31 16 115,627 642,651 16.0 20,898 552,985 301 321 643,273 96,157 12.0 2,008 87,254 115 71 96,343 1,749,571 18.6 132,762 1,612,096 596 465 1,750,632 591,045 13.4 36,006 572,525 523 477 592,045 35,827 8.7 314 33,381 32 22 35,881 759,435 14.2 -17,779 713,106 183 424 760,042 154,671 9.9 20,121 140,879 77 85 154,833 308,989 16.1 24,503 282,742 562 110 309,661 1,233,299 21.2 318,050 1,137,029 2,837 758 1,236,894 145,140 17.0 -8,281 130,756 210 75 145,425 97,573 20.6 910 90,124 23 24 97,620 260,409 12.5 19,453 247,310 55 127 260,591 23,791 5.7 1,084 22,432 91 11 23,893 340,249 10.4 -784 324,687 149 148 340,546 1,133,324 9.2 171,202 1,023,739 809 1,209 1,135,342 92,872 6.3 3,377 85,510 117 39 93,028 60,535 20.0 -15,922 56,660 11 4 60,550 1,882 5.3 414 1,612 2 0 1,884 376,689 10.1 35,394 358,211 374 430 377,493 604,048 18.0 30,674 556,448 464 762 605,274 110,377 16.5 -36,189 100,810 63 50 110,490 314,025 11.0 -7,038 287,673 136 79 314,240 17,521 6.5 955 15,418 48 7 17,576 21,772,592 14.9 3,977,627 20,139,063 16,854 11,758 21,801,204 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. 9 UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED MAY 2, 2020 STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 State OK MD NJ Change +41,385 +25,318 +16,360 ME +8,452 PR CT NM +4,600 +3,097 +1,582 State Supplied Comment No comment. No comment. Layoffs in the accommodation and food services, administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services, health care and social assistance, professional, scientific, and technical services, and educational services industries. Layoffs in the retail trade, manufacturing, health care and social assistance, accommodation and food services, educational services, arts, entertainment, and recreation, transportation and warehousing, information, educational services, and administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services industries. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. No comment. Increase in initial claims due to COVID-19. No comment. STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 State FL AL Change -258,243 -45,981 GA -38,213 WA PA -37,289 -33,451 OH IL NY SC WV MA LA MI NV IN NC -32,112 -26,846 -24,303 -18,765 -16,591 -15,474 -15,200 -14,605 -13,991 -13,484 -12,985 VA WI CO TX AZ CA KY KS HI MN TN AR MS -12,857 -12,108 -10,302 -10,149 -9,558 -9,086 -8,788 -8,524 -7,382 -7,103 -6,482 -4,223 -4,161 State Supplied Comment Fewer layoffs in the retail trade industry. Fewer layoffs in the accommodation and food services, retail trade, administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services, health care and social assistance, manufacturing, construction, arts, entertainment and recreation, educational services, and wholesale trade industries. Fewer layoffs in the trade, accommodation and food services, manufacturing, and administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services industries. No comment. Fewer layoffs in the construction, professional, scientific, and technical services, and administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services industries. No comment. No comment. Fewer layoffs in the transportation and warehousing, retail trade, and construction industries. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. Fewer layoffs in the health care and social assistance, manufacturing, and retail trade 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. No comment. No comment. No comment. 10 RI IA MO -3,996 -3,979 -2,772 UT NH MT ND NE DE SD AK ID VT OR -2,746 -2,526 -2,456 -2,230 -1,811 -1,650 -1,606 -1,595 -1,332 -1,242 -1,180 No comment. No comment. Fewer layoffs in the accommodation and food services, retail trade, and manufacturing industries. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. No comment. 11 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 20-976-NAT Program Contacts: Kevin Stapleton: (202) 693-3009 Media Contact: (202) 693-4676 12