Continued Claims' Four-Week Moving Average Decreases for Fifth Consecutive Week

Thursday, May 26, 2022

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) reports that continued claims and the continued claims’ four-week moving average declined, while initial claims and the initial claims’ four-week moving average increased slightly for the week ending May 14.

“Oklahoma has sustained its position as a national leader in economic recovery and strength, and we continue to build on that momentum to maintain our thriving economy,” said OESC Executive Director Shelley Zumwalt. “The decrease in continued claims in both the weekly and four-week moving average is a strong indicator of the overall health of the workforce. OESC remains committed to providing reemploymemt services to help individuals find jobs across the state.”

Weekly Unemployment Numbers for Week Ending May 14

For the file week ending May 14, the number of initial claims, unadjusted, totaled 1,890, an increase of 176 from the previous week's level of 1,714.
For the same file week, the less volatile initial claims’ 4-week moving average was 1,942, an increase of 28 from the previous week's average of 1,914.
The number of continued claims totaled 11,266, a decrease of 132 from the previous week’s level of 11,398.
Continued claims’ four-week moving average was 11,163, a decrease of 38 from the previous week's average of 11,201.

Nationally, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for the week ending May 21 was 210,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, the U.S. Department of Labor (U.S. DOL) reports. The four-week moving average was 206,750, an increase of 7,250 from the previous week's unrevised average. For the week ending May 14, 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.