Initial Claims Decline, Continued Claims Increase

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) reports that initial claims decreased slightly, while continued claims and both four-week moving averages increased slightly for the week ending Jan. 22. The agency also reported that all 77 Oklahoma counties had lower unemployment rates in December 2021 than in December 2020.

"As Oklahoma continues to be a leader nationally in our economic recovery, OESC is evolving and re-enforcing our focus on providing Oklahomans with reliable and innovative services that drive a strong workforce and economy,” said Shelley Zumwalt, OESC Executive Director. "We recently revised our mission, vision and values to ensure our team is aligned with the vision for our state. Our new vision statement, 'Empowering Oklahomans to work and live well,' is aligned with the work our team members do every day and provides a north star for our work in the future. Oklahoma continues to show the nation that we are a strong and resilient state, and OESC is excited to be a part of our state’s future growth and success.” 

The agency’s new mission, vision and values can be found on OESC’s website: https://oklahoma.gov/oesc/about/mission.html

• For the file week ending Jan. 22, the number of initial claims, unadjusted, totaled 2,141, a decrease of 99 from the previous week's level of 2,240.
• For the same file week, the less volatile initial claims’ four-week moving average was 2,242, an increase of 95 from the previous week's average of 2,147.
• The number of continued claims totaled 13,097, an increase of 77 from the previous week’s level of 13,020. 
• Continued claims’ four-week moving average was 13,493, an increase of 50 from the previous week's average of 13,443.

Nationally, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for the week ending Jan. 29 was 238,000, a decrease of 23,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Department of Labor (U.S. DOL) reports. The four-week moving average was 255,000, an increase of 7,750 from the previous week's revised average. For the week ending Jan. 22, the U.S. DOL reports the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2%, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate.

The national weekly seasonally adjusted initial claims report is one of 10 components in the Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators. To smooth out the volatility in the weekly initial claims data, a four-week moving average is used to assess trends.