Initial Claims per Thousand Covered Employment by State

Initial Claims statistics are provided weekly by the U.S. Department of Labor which counts the number of persons who file for unemployment benefits for the first time. Covered Employment includes all employees covered under the Unemployment Insurance Program.

In summary, the initial claims data show new activity in unemployment from week to week and the continued claims data show the cumulative impact of economic activity on unemployment. The chart displays the initial claims per thousand of covered employment by state for the most recent week, the previous week and the previous year.

Unemployment insurance is a joint state-federal program that provides cash benefits to eligible workers. Each state administers a separate unemployment insurance program, but all states follow the same guidelines established by federal law. The amount of unemployment insurance varies from person to person and depends on their former wages as well as the guidelines of each state.  In the past, most states have paid these benefits for up to 26 weeks.