Report dated November 12, 2011 reflects our unemployment numbers for week-ending November 5, 2011. During this week, 2,640 initial claims were filed in Utah compared to 2,585 the prior week. The numbers listed below are based on the 4-week moving average.
- 2,375 initial UI claims filed (increase of 149 from the prior week and decrease of 290 from same week in 2010)
- 18,262 continued UI weeks claimed (increase of 262 from the prior week and decrease of 4,997 from same week in 2010)
- 12,306 continued EUC08 weeks claimed (increase of 45 from the prior week and decrease of 7,991 from same week in 2010)
The Department of Labor identifies a UI claim as one of three categories: State UI, federal (UCFE), and military (UCX). In evaluating an individual’s work history to establish their eligibility for a claim, any wages from a company or local government will classify the claim as “state UI,” even if there are also federal civilian or military wages. If the individual has only federal civilian wages or federal civilian and military wages, it will be classified as UCFE. If the individual has only military wages, it is a UCX claim. This classification is important because it determines how eligibility is established and it allows the government to track unemployment data for each group individually.
Over the last five years, the number of state UI claims filed each week has fluctuated between 800 and 5,200. This last week, we had 2,536 filed. Federal claims have fluctuated between 4 and 200 per week, with the most recent week at 92. Military claims have fluctuated between 2 and 30 per week, with the most recent week at 12. This comes to a total of 2,640 initial claims, as stated above. The attached chart shows the character of these fluctuations based on a 4-week moving average and illustrates how these groups follow different trends in the number of initial claims filed, though we often only see the trend of state UI claims reflected in the overall number.
