Unemployment Insurance Claims Statistics

Unemployment Insurance (UI) is a federal/state program financed through employer payroll taxes and administered by the Department of Labor and Training. The UI program provides temporary income support to workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own.

Workers who become unemployed file initial claims, which serve as notice that they are beginning a period of unemployment. Claimants who qualify for benefits are counted in the insured unemployment statistics. These statistics, which include initial claims, payments, benefit amounts, and claim durations, are used as economic indicators.

Individuals collecting unemployment insurance are included in the "total unemployment" figures, which are used to calculate the monthly unemployment rate; however, the insured unemployed represents a portion of the total unemployed individuals in the state.