“Initial claims” are the number of people who file for unemployment insurance benefits for the first time in a given week. They’re watched as an economic indicator because they show very early, week‑by‑week changes in layoffs and job loss: rising initial claims signal weakening labor market conditions, while falling claims suggest improvement.
Unadjusted data are the raw counts actually reported by states (for example, the exact number of claims filed that week). Seasonally adjusted data take those raw numbers and apply a statistical method to remove predictable seasonal patterns (like holiday retail layoffs or summer factory shutdowns). This makes it easier to see the underlying trend from week to week. Both are reported because:
The 4‑week moving average for initial claims is the average of the last four weeks of initial claims (sum of claims for the most recent four weeks divided by four). It is reported because averaging over four weeks smooths out one‑time spikes or drops (for example, from holidays, weather events, or reporting quirks) and gives a clearer picture of the underlying direction of layoffs.
The insured unemployment rate (IUR) measures the share of workers covered by unemployment insurance who are currently receiving benefits. In practice it is calculated as:
IUR = (continued claims for regular UI benefits ÷ covered employment) × 100,
where “continued claims” (also called insured unemployment) is the weekly count of people already on UI, and “covered employment” is the number of jobs in employers that pay into the UI system.
UCFE (Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees) is the federal‑state program that pays unemployment benefits to eligible former civilian federal employees whose jobs were covered by federal unemployment compensation law. UCX (Unemployment Compensation for Ex‑servicemembers) pays unemployment benefits to eligible former members of the U.S. armed forces based on their recent active‑duty military service.
Being “triggered on” for the Extended Benefits (EB) program means a state has met federally defined high‑unemployment thresholds, so additional weeks of unemployment benefits beyond the regular state maximum automatically become available. Under the standard trigger, a state turns EB on when its 13‑week average insured unemployment rate (IUR) is at least 5% and at least 120% of the same 13‑week average over the previous two years (states can also adopt optional, higher triggers based on IUR or total unemployment rates). When those conditions are no longer met for a specified period, the state “triggers off” and EB weeks stop.
ETA and BLS split responsibilities. State agencies send weekly raw claims data to the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), which is the program expert and publishes the weekly UI claims news release. ETA contracts with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to design and run the seasonal‑adjustment models for the national UI initial and continued claims series, and BLS updates the seasonal adjustment factors annually. When BLS delivers the new factors each year, ETA applies them to the historical unadjusted claims data and revises the seasonally adjusted series accordingly, then continues using those factors for the weekly releases until the next annual update.