OKLAHOMA CITY – The impact of COVID-19 on state and national initial unemployment claims has established an all-time high.
For the week ending March 21, 2020, unadjusted initial claims in Oklahoma totaled 17,720, an increase of 15,884 more than the previous week. The previous highest week for initial claims totaled 9,778 for the week ending January 12, 1991.
Nationally, the seasonally adjusted initial claims totaled 3,283,000, an increase of 3,001,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous one-week high nationally was 695,000 in October 1982.
There are two components to the unemployment insurance claims data. The first component, initial claims, measure how many job seekers are filing an unemployment insurance claim for the first time. The second component, continued claims, indicate the number of job seekers that continue to receive the unemployment insurance benefit after their initial claim.
“We’re likely to see a significant jump in the number of continued claims beginning with next week’s report,” said OESC Executive Director Robin Roberson. “We’ve temporarily waived the requirement that recipients of unemployment benefits demonstrate they are actively seeking employment. The labor market is too unsettled during this crisis to place both job seekers and employers at risk with the work search requirement.”
The national weekly seasonally adjusted initial claims report is one of ten components in the Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators. To smooth out the volatility in the weekly initial claims data, a 4-week moving average is used to assess trends.
Unemployment Claims may be filed online at www.unemployment.ok.gov.