Oklahoma Sees Seasonal Increases in Initial UI Claims
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) reports that continued unemployment claims and continued claims’ four-week moving average decreased, while initial claims and initial claims’ four-week moving average increased for the week ending July 9.
“We are pleased to see that continued claims have decreased in Oklahoma for the third consecutive week. In line with annual patterns in unemployment data trends for the months of June and July, we are seeing an upward shift in initial claims,” said OESC Executive Director Shelley Zumwalt. “OESC is continuing to monitor initial claims, in Oklahoma and nationally, as well as national trends in interest rates, employment and the overall economy. We are increasing our initiatives to promote workforce readiness and economic development over the next month, including implementation of our UI Navigator and NGA Workforce Innovation Network grants which will provide additional resources to support our workforce. We are confident that our agency is well prepared to serve Oklahomans.”
Weekly Unemployment Numbers for Week Ending July 9
- For the file week ending July 9, the number of initial claims, unadjusted, totaled 2,108, an increase of 359 from the previous week's level of 1,749.
- For the same file week, the less volatile initial claims’ four-week moving average was 1,672, an increase of 48 from the previous week's average of 1,624.
- The unadjusted number of continued claims totaled 10,759, a decrease of 68 from the previous week’s level of 10,827.
- For the same file week, the less volatile continued claims’ four-week moving average was 10,886, a decrease of 41 from the previous week's average of 10,927.
Nationally, the advance figure for seasonally-adjusted initial claims for the week ending July 16 was 251,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, the U.S. Department of Labor (U.S. DOL) reports. The four-week moving average was 240,500, an increase of 4,500 from the previous week's revised average. For the week ending July 9, the U.S. DOL reports the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.0%, an increase of 0.1 percentage point 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.
