Unemployment Insurance Statistics


Monthly Claims Update
Month Ending:
December 31, 2009
Download (pdf)

Unemployment Insurance

Initial Claims10,776 initial claims were processed during the month of December, an increase of 3,512 (48.3%) from the previous month, and a decrease of 303 (-2.7%) from a year ago.  Of the 10,776 initial claims processed this month, 570 (5.3%) were filed by customers who were not citizens of the U.S. Of the 6,236 monetary determinations issued in December, 469 (7.5%) were monetarily ineligible.  

Weeks Claimed 79,604 weeks claimed were processed during the month of December, an increase of 1,477 (1.9%) from the previous month and a decrease of 10,745 (-11.9%) from a year ago.  There were 72,301 payments made in December, which resulted in payments totaling $27.1 million.  There were 7,974 (11.0%) partial payments issued in December 2009 compared to 6,798 (8.2%) last year.  The average weekly benefit payment was $375. The number of weekly benefit payments is averaging 20.0 weeks per claim.  

Workshare 1,988 initial claims were processed for Workshare benefits this month, an increase of 296 (17.5%) from the previous month and an increase of 579 (41.1%) from December 2008.  It is estimated that 459 layoffs were averted this month as a result of Rhode Island’s Workshare program.  

First and Final Claims 4,146 first payments and 2,446 final payments were issued in December 2009. The current exhaustion duration ratio is 61.4 percent.  

Non-monetary Determinations 1,845 non-monetary determinations were issued during the month of December 2009.  Of the 1,845 determinations, 1,322 (71.7%) were separation issues and 523 (28.3%) were non-separation issues.  Denials were issued for 614 (46.4%) separation issues and 437 (83.6%) non-separation issues.  

Appeals – 438 appeal decisions were processed with the Board of Review in December 2009.  Of the 438 processed, 371 (84.7%) were filed by UI applicants and 67 (15.3%) 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 4,283 initial claims processed during the month of December, a decrease of 925 (-17.8%) from the previous month, and an increase of 412 (10.6%) from a year ago.  Of the 1,908 monetary determinations issued 18 (0.9%) were monetarily ineligible.  

Number of Payments -– There were 81,226 (36,098 under tier 1, 21,565 under tier 2, 23,550 under tier 3 and 13 under tier 4) payments issued in December, which resulted in payments totaling $29.8 million.  The average weekly benefit payment was $367.  

First and Final Claims – 6,421 first payments (1,898 under tier 1, 2,012 under tier 2, 2,504 under tier 3 and 7 under tier 4) and 3,662 final payments (2,072 under tier 1, 1,500 under tier 2, 89 under tier 3 and 1 under tier 4) were issued in December 2009.  To date 41,277 individuals have collected EUC08 benefits.

Extended Benefits  

Initial Claims – EB is available to individuals who have exhausted EUC08 claims.  There were 132 initial claims processed during the month of December, a decrease of 476 (-78.3%) from the previous month.  Of the 9 monetary determinations issued none were monetarily ineligible.  

Number of Payments - There were 9,473 payments issued in December, which resulted in payments totaling $3.3 million.  The average weekly benefit payment was $352.  

First and Final Claims – 32 first payments were issued and 699 final payments was issued in December 2009.  To date 9,739 first payments and 5,492 final payments have been made.

Claims Summary
 
Unemployment Insurance

Percent
Change From

Current
Month

Previous
Month

Year
Ago

Previous
Month

Year
Ago

Year to Date

2009

2008

Initial Claims

10,776 7,264 11,079 48.3% -2.7% 116,118 93,761

Monetary Determinations

6,236 4,039 6,810 54.4% -8.4% 69,380 57,663

Monetary Ineligible

469 432 522 8.6% -10.2% 4,950 3,778

Weeks Claimed

79,604 78,127 90,349 1.9% -11.9% 1,191,837 835,133

Number of Payments

72,301 71,447 82,543 1.2% -12.4% 1,109,239 772,052

Amount of Payments (millions)

$27.1 $26.7 $30.5 1.4% -11.0% $411.3 $277.3

Average Payment

$375 $374 $369 0.2% 1.6% $371 $359

Partial Payments

7,974 8,334 6,798 -4.3% 17.3% 99,213 66,067

Average Duration

20.0 19.8 16.6 0.9% 20.4% 20.0 16.6

Exhaustion Ratio

61.4 62.3 47.1 -1.5% 30.3% 61.4 47.1

First Payments

4,146 3,026 5,166 37.0% -19.7% 55,512 46,446

Final Payments

2,446 2,939 2,194 -16.8% 11.5% 34,632 20,492

Workshare Initial Claims

1,988 1,692 1,409 17.5% 41.1% 27,372 10,546

Workshare Equivalency

459 366 357 25.4% 28.6% 6,618 2,934
Emergency Unemployment Compensation 08

Percent
Change From

Current
Month

Previous
Month

Year
Ago

Previous
Month

Year
Ago

Year to Date
2009

Since Program Began

Initial Claims

4,283 5,208 3,871 -17.8% 10.6% 44,096 62,248

Monetary Determinations

1,908 1,888 1,696 1.1% 12.5% 26,484 41,244

Monetary Ineligible

18 24 39 -25.0% -53.8% 459 801

Number of Payments

81,226 78,042 46,457 4.1% 74.8% 654,645 815,537

Amount of Payments (millions)

$29.8 $28.8 $16.3 3.8% 83.0% $236.8 $293.0

Average Payment

$367 $369 $351 -0.3% 4.7% $362 $359

First Payments (tier 1)

1,898 2,028 1,963 -6.4% -3.3% 26,512 41,277

Final Payments (tier 1)

2,072 2,284 -- -9.3% -- 22,703 22,703

First Payments (tier 2)

2,012 2,120 -- -5.1% -- 20,916 20,916

Final Payments (tier 2)

1,500 1,400 -- 7.1% -- 14,382 14,382

First Payments (tier 3)

2,504 3,821 -- -34.5% -- 6,325 6,325

Final Payments (tier 3)

89 -- -- -- -- 89 89

First Payments (tier 4)

7 -- -- -- -- 7 7

Final Payments (tier 4)

1 -- -- -- -- 1 1
Extended Benefits

Percent
Change From

Current
Month

Previous
Month

Year
Ago

Previous
Month

Year
Ago

Year to Date
2009

2Since Program
Began

Initial Claims

132 608 79 -78.3% 67.1% 7,567 11,010

Monetary Determinations

9 345 74 -97.4% -87.8% 6,709 10,055

Monetary Ineligible

0 0 2 -- -100.0% 106 327

Number of Payments

9,473 14,380 365 -34.1% 2495.3% 113,192 130,456

Amount of Payments (millions)

$3.3 $5.0 $0.1 -33.5% 2622.5% $39.7 $45.8

Average Payment

$352 $349 $336 0.9% 4.9% $350 $351

First Payments

32 565 80 -94.3% -60.0% 6,600 9,739

Final Payments

699 759 -- -7.9% -- 5,492 5,492

For more information on Unemployment Insurance, visit the UI web site at www.dlt.ri.gov/ui.
 

Link to DLT Home Page

Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training
Labor Market Information
1511 Pontiac Avenue
Cranston, RI 02920-4407

Phone: (401) 462-8740
Fax: (401) 462-8766
TDD: (401) 462-8006
E-mail LMI