Unemployment Insurance  

Initial Claims – 11,313 initial claims were processed during the month of December, an increase of 3,477 (44.4%) from the previous month, and a decrease of 1,489 (-11.6%) from a year ago.  Of the 11,313 initial claims processed this month, 550 (4.9%) were filed by customers who were not citizens of the U.S.   Of the 6,361 monetary determinations issued in December, 631 (9.9%) were monetarily ineligible.  

Weeks Claimed – 62,901 weeks claimed were processed during the month of December, an increase of 5,785 (10.1%) from the previous month and a decrease of 8,135 (-11.5%) from a year ago.  There were 56,499 payments made in December, which resulted in payments totaling $20.7 million.  There were 6,585 (11.7%) partial payments issued in December 2011 compared to 7,403 (11.6%) last year.  The average weekly benefit payment was $367.  The number of weekly benefit payments is averaging 17.1 weeks per claim.  

Workshare – 331 initial claims were processed for Workshare benefits this month, a decrease of 98 (-22.8%) from the previous month and a decrease of 396 (-54.5%) from December 2010.  It is estimated that 107 layoffs were averted this month as a result of Rhode Island ’s Workshare program.  

First and Final Claims – 3,802 first payments and 1,705 final payments were issued in December 2011.  The current exhaustion duration ratio is 54.1 percent.  

Non-monetary Determinations – 1,779 non-monetary determinations were issued during the month of December 2011.  Of the 1,779 determinations, 1,232 (69.3%) were separation issues and 547 (30.7%) were non-separation issues.  Denials were issued for 554 (45.0%) separation issues and 491 (89.8%) non-separation issues.  

Appeals – 708 appeal decisions were processed with the Board of Review in December 2011.  Of the 708 processed, 563 (79.5%) were filed by UI applicants and 145 (20.5%) were filed by employers.  The Board upheld the director’s decision in nearly two-thirds of the cases.

Emergency Unemployment Compensation 08  

Initial Claims – EUC08, which became effective July 6, 2008, provides up to 53 weeks of federally funded benefits to eligible individuals who exhausted their UI claims.  There were 2,608 initial claims processed during the month of December, a decrease of 256 (-8.9%) from the previous month, and an increase of 88 (3.5%) from a year ago.  Of the 1,363 monetary determinations issued 62 (4.5%) were monetarily ineligible.  

Number of Payments - There were 50,813 (20,747 under tier 1, 13,225 under tier 2, 11,544 under tier 3 and 5,297 under tier 4) payments issued in December, which resulted in payments totaling $18.6 million.  The average weekly benefit payment was $367.  

First and Final Claims – 3,673 first payments (1,280 under tier 1, 879 under tier 2, 816 under tier 3 and 698 under tier 4) and 4,431 final payments (1,181 under tier 1,282 under tier 2, 1,031 under tier 3 and 937 under tier 4) were issued in December 2011.  To date 76,654 individuals have collected EUC08 benefits.

Extended Benefits  

Initial Claims – EB is available to individuals who have exhausted EUC08 claims.  There were 499 initial claims processed during the month of December, a decrease of 115 (-18.7%) from the previous month.  Of the 441 monetary determinations issued none of them was monetarily ineligible.  

Number of Payments - There were 7,549 payments issued in December, which resulted in payments totaling $2.8 million.  The average weekly benefit payment was $366.  

First and Final Claims – 434 first payments were issued and 272 final payments was issued in December 2011.  To date 30,010 first payments and 21,329 final payments have been made.