The above chart is a total of all state unemployment insurance trust funds. Data for the second quarter is not yet out, and it will undoubtedly show another steep decline. Some states have already depleted their trust funds. Tomorrow, I will have a chart on states that have trust fund loans from the federal government.
Data source:
U.S. Department of Labor
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The above chart shows the average unemployment insurance benefit by state paid in May 2009. As you can see the average can vary significantly by state. Also, what is obvious is that the average benefit is not meant to be a wage replacement (far too low). Remember, unemployment benefits are considered taxable income too.
Data source:
U.S. Department of Labor
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As you have seen from the prior few posts, unemployment insurance claims (both initial and continued) are near record levels. What is very disturbing is that this is occuring at the same time the exhaustion rate of unemployment benefits hits record highs.
The way the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates the exhaustion rate needs a little explanation. It takes a 12-month average of the number of final payments and divides that by a 12-month average of the number of first payments. The 12-month average period for which the first payments are counted lags the 12-month period for which the final payments are counted by 6 months. For example, the exhaustion rate for June 2008 equals the number of final payments from July 2007 through June 2008 divided by the number of first payments from January 2007 through December 2007.
The 12-month average period helps smooth out monthly bumps in the numbers. The lag helps ensure the data on persons exhausting their benefits is compared with the appropriate data from when they received their first payments (because it usually takes about 6 months to exhaust benefits). Without the lag, first time data could skew the exhaustion rate calculation. For example, a big decline in first time claims would make the exhaustion rate increase even if the number of persons exhausting their benefits that month didn’t change.
Data source:
U.S. Department of Labor
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As of June 13, 2009, the number of Americans filing for continued unemployment insurance weekly claims hit 6,738,000 (on a seasonally adjusted basis). This is the Labor Department’s advanced reading which will likely be revised.
Data source:
U.S. Department of Labor
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This is the first post in a series on unemployment claims and payroll losses.
The first chart shows a recent view of initial unemployment insurance weekly claims. As you can see initial claims are slightly off of their recent highs. However, a quick look at the second chart shows that on a historical basis initial claims remain very elevated.
According to the U.S. Labor Department unemployment insurance benefits are intented to provide temporary financial assistance to unemployed workers who are unemployed through no fault of their own. Each state administers its own separate unemployment insurance program following guidelines established by Federal law.
Data source:
U.S. Department of Labor
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