In July 2024, 3.16 billion U.S. dollars were paid out in unemployment benefits in the United States. This is an increase from June 2024, when 2.62 billion U.S. dollars were paid in unemployment benefits. The large figures seen in 2020 are largely due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Welfare in the U.S. Unemployment benefits first started in 1935 during the Great Depression as a part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. The Social Security Act of 1935 ensured that Americans would not fall deeper into poverty. The United States was the only developed nation in the world at the time that did not offer any welfare benefits. This program created unemployment benefits, Medicare and Medicaid, and maternal and child welfare. The only major welfare program that the United States currently lacks is a paid maternity leave policy. Currently, the United States only offers 12 unpaid weeks of leave, under certain circumstances. However, the number of people without health insurance in the United States has greatly decreased since 2010. Unemployment benefits Current unemployment benefits in the United States vary from state to state due to unemployment being funded by both the state and the federal government. The average duration of people collecting unemployment benefits in the United States has fluctuated since January 2020, from as little as 4.55 weeks to as many as 50.32 weeks. The unemployment rate varies by ethnicity, gender, and education levels. For example, those aged 16 to 24 have faced the highest unemployment rates since 1990 during the pandemic. In February 2023, the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV metropolitan area had the highest unemployment rate in the United States.

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Data - 2020 year to dateThis map contain Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims data, from the United State Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration, starting on 01/01/2020 and updated weekly. These data are used in current economic analysis of unemployment trends in the nation, and in each state. Initial claims is a measure of emerging unemployment. It counts the number of new persons claiming unemployment benefits and it is released after one week.Continued claims is a measure of the total number of persons claiming unemployment benefits, and it is released one week later than the initial claims.The data is organized by state, with the following attributes (as defined by the United State Department of Labor) repeated for each weekWeek/date when claims were filedNumber of initial claimsWeek/date reflected in the data weekNumber of continued claims Total covered employment Insured unemployment rateThe latest information on unemployment insurance claims can be found here.TECHNICAL NOTESThese data represent the weekly unemployment insurance (UI) claims reported by each state's unemployment insurance program offices. These claims may be used for monitoring workload volume, assessing state program operations and for assessing labor market conditions. States initially report claims directly taken by the state liable for the benefit payments, regardless of where the claimant who filed the claim resided. These are the basis for the advance initial claims and continued claims reported each week. These data come from ETA 538, Advance Weekly Initial and Continued Claims Report. The following week initial claims and continued claims are revised based on a second reporting by states that reflect the claimants by state of residence. These data come from the ETA 539, Weekly Claims and Extended Benefits Trigger Data Report.A. Initial ClaimsAn initial claim is a claim filed by an unemployed individual after a separation from an employer. The claimant requests a determination of basic eligibility for the UI program. When an initial claim is filed with a state, certain programmatic activities take place and these result in activity counts including the count of initial claims. The count of U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance is a leading economic indicator because it is an indication of emerging labor market conditions in the country. However, these are weekly administrative data which are difficult to seasonally adjust, making the series subject to some volatility.B. Continued Weeks ClaimedA person who has already filed an initial claim and who has experienced a week of unemployment then files a continued claim to claim benefits for that week of unemployment. Continued claims are also referred to as insured unemployment. The count of U.S. continued weeks claimed is also a good indicator of labor market conditions. Continued claims reflect the current number of insured unemployed workers filing for UI benefits in the nation. While continued claims are not a leading indicator (they roughly coincide with economic cycles at their peaks and lag at cycle troughs), they provide confirming evidence of the direction of the U.S. economyC. Seasonal Adjustments and Annual RevisionsOver the course of a year, the weekly changes in the levels of initial claims and continued claims undergo regularly occurring fluctuations. These fluctuations may result from seasonal changes in weather, major holidays, the opening and closing of schools, or other similar events. Because these seasonal events follow a more or less regular pattern each year, their influence on the level of a series can be tempered by adjusting for regular seasonal variation. These adjustments make trend and cycle developments easier to spot. At the beginning of each calendar year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) with a set of seasonal factors to apply to the unadjusted data during that year. Concurrent with the implementation and release of the new seasonal factors, ETA incorporates revisions to the UI claims historical series caused by updates to the unadjusted data.

Unemployment benefits in Russia ranged from 1,613 Russian rubles to 13,751 Russian rubles in 2024, having increased from the previous year. In 2025, the maximum rate was increased to 14,742 Russian rubles, while the minimum rate would remain at the same level. Who is entitled to receive unemployment benefits in Russia? To receive unemployment benefits, Russian citizens had to register as unemployed at the job center. Different rates applied depending on the duration of the previous occupation, the reason for unemployment, and other factors. For example, those who worked for the same employer for at least 26 weeks and registered at the employment office within a year received three quarters of their monthly pay (as long as that did not exceed than the maximum rate) in the first three months. In the following three months, the rate was 60 percent of the monthly pay, or up to 5,000 Russian rubles. Those who had been unemployed for over a year or were dismissed from their previous job were assigned the minimum rate. Changes in unemployment benefits due to COVID-19 in Russia As the unemployment rate in Russia increased in the spring and summer of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's government adjusted unemployment benefits. In April 2020, the highest possible value of payments was raised from 8,000 Russian rubles to 12,130 Russian rubles until the end of the year and later extended until 2021. From May to August 2020, the minimum payment was increased to 4,500 Russian rubles. Further changes were made for specific population groups, such as parents and individual entrepreneurs.

The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey of households conducted by the Bureau of Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The earnings data are collected from one-fourth of the CPS total sample of approximately 60,000 households. Data measures usual hourly and weekly earnings of wage and salary workers. All self-employed persons are excluded, regardless of whether their businesses are incorporated. Data represent earnings before taxes and other deductions and include any overtime pay, commissions, or tips usually received. Earnings data are available for all workers, by age, race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, sex, occupation, usual full- or part-time status, educational attainment, and other characteristics. Data are published quarterly. More information and details about the data provided can be found at http://www.bls.gov/cps/earnings.htm

Graph and download economic data for Income Before Taxes: Unemployment and Workers' Compensation, Veterans' Benefits, and Regular Contributions by Generation: Birth Year of 1945 or Earlier (CXUOTHREGINLB1609M) from 2019 to 2023 about veterans, birth, contributions, compensation, benefits, workers, tax, income, unemployment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Personal current transfer receipts: Government social benefits to persons: Unemployment insurance (W825RC1) from Jan 1959 to May 2025 about social assistance, insurance, benefits, government, personal, unemployment, and USA.

This table contains monthly and yearly figures on the labour participation and unemployment in the Netherlands. The population of 15 to 75 years old (excluding the institutionalized population) is divided into the employed, the unemployed and the people who are not in in the labour force. The different groups are further broken down by sex and age. Next to the original monthly figures on the labour force you can also find monthly figures that are seasonally adjusted.

Data available from: January 2003

Status of the figures: The figures in this table are final.

Changes as of 20 September 2018: The figures of August 2018 have been added.

Changes as of 21 January 2016: Statistics Netherlands (CBS) uses model-based estimates to calculate monthly labour force data. In order to reduce the margins on month-on-month changes, the unemployment benefits was incorporated in the unemployment model as an additional source of information. Following the adoption of the Work and Security Act (Wwz), a new classification method on the basis of income adjustment was introduced in July 2015, which structurally increased the number of current unemployment benefits. As a result, this information is no longer suitable for the mentioned model and from November 2015 onwards these data are no longer referred to. Therefore, labour force figures for November 2015 have been adjusted. The figures on December 2015 and the year 2015 have been added.

When will new figures be published? New figures on the most recent month are published monthly, in the third week of the month.

This poll, fielded December 4-8, 2009, is a part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicits public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. Respondents were asked whether they approved of the way Barack Obama was handling his job as president, job creation, the economy, the situation in Afghanistan, and health care. Several questions addressed the economy and included questions that asked for respondents' opinions on the condition of the economy, the recession, who they thought was to blame for the current high employment rate in the United States, whether they thought Republicans or Democrats would create new jobs, and whether the government's stimulus package made the economy better or created new jobs. Respondents were asked about their personal financial situation, their rating of their household's financial situation, whether they thought their financial situation was getting better, what worried them the most about their finances, whether they had made cutbacks in their day-to-day spending, how their family had been affected by the recession, and whether they discussed the financial changes with their children. Information was collected on respondents' employment status. Unemployed respondents were asked how long they had been out of work and seeking employment, how long they expected it to take to find employment, whether they were laid off, whether they were offered a severance package with their last employer, what was most effective in finding leads for new jobs, and whether they had relocated, considered changing their career, or pursued job re-training programs to increase their chances of finding employment. Respondents were asked how confident they were that they would find a job with the same income and benefits as their last job, whether they were receiving unemployment benefits, and whether they took any money from their savings account, borrowed money from family or friends, increased the household's credit card debt, cut back on vacations or doctors visits, or received food stamps as result of being unemployed. Respondents were also asked whether the following things occurred as a result of them being unemployed: positive experiences, increase in volunteer work or religious service attendance, increased stress levels or exercise time, threatened with foreclosure, had more arguments with family, emotional or mental health issues, or had trouble sleeping. Other topics covered included global warming, health insurance plans, health care reform, job security, and the war in Afghanistan. Demographic information includes sex, age, race, education level, household income, military service, religious preference, reported social class, type of residential area (e.g., urban or rural), political party affiliation, political philosophy, voter registration status, and whether respondents thought of themselves as born again Christians.

Unemployment benefits are paid to jobseekers in the long term. Jobseekers have until the end of the update (15th day of month M+ 1) to declare their situation on month M. If the job seeker meets the conditions, the payment for month M is made after the job seeker has updated his situation for month M and, at the earliest, on the 1st working day of month M+ 1. In addition, a number of information (admission decisions, reduced activity, sickness, training, etc.), which have consequences for the payment of an unemployment benefit, may not be known at the time when the job seeker updates his situation for month M due to the deadlines for producing and submitting supporting documents. The number of jobseekers compensated at the end of a given month is therefore known exhaustively only with a certain period of time.

For this reason, the number of recipients at the end of the month is considered definitive when it is established with 6 months of decline for that month.

Production of monthly data

However, the final number of awardees compensated for month M can be correctly estimated from the number of recipients actually paid, before the discount closure in M+ 1. The data processing times lead to the availability of this data at the end of month M+ 2. This estimate is obtained by weighting the observed number of allocates by a passing coefficient corresponding to the gain of information between 1 and 6 months of decline.

These coefficients are calculated once a year at the beginning of the year, for the publication of the data for the month of January. They are established for each type of allocation (ARE, AREF, ASS, CSP, RFF, RFPE) on the basis of data from the previous year drawn up with different setbacks. The data thus estimated with a month of decline have a provisional status.

Each month, at the end of month M, two statistics are published:

— an estimate by detailed allowances of the number of persons compensated at the end of the month M-2 (provisional data); — the number of persons compensated at the end of the month M-7, by detailed allowances (so-called ‘definitive’ data). The data are therefore made definitive monthly with a decline of 6 months.

The number of staff is calculated from the FNA (National Recipient File). Published data are seasonally adjusted. CVS coefficients are re-estimated once a year, at the beginning of the year, by major type of allocation (ARE, AREF, Solidarity, RSP, CSP) and for metropolitan France and France as a whole.

Compared to old estimation methods, this is characterised by:

— the removal of the estimate without regression; the information published each month M henceforth covers the number of jobseekers compensated by Pôle emploi at the end of the month M-2 (and no longer at the end of months M-1); — the definitive status with 6 months of decline (and no longer 9 months as before); — the final status is published in flux, as soon as the data with 6 months of decline are known (and not once a year in year A-2).

The FNA

The FNA is a historical database of relational data consisting of elements related to compensation and the various aid granted to jobseekers. It allows longitudinal analyses by tracking cohorts of individuals, compiling descriptive statistics, forecasting, and performing simulations in impact studies related to regulatory or operational changes. The FNA is a major source of information for various statistical productions (summary notes, DRE, rates & salaries, surveys...).

This statistical database records the history of all persons registered as jobseekers and all beneficiaries of an allowance paid or aid granted by the Employment Centre (formerly Assédic/Anpe) since 1993. All periods of compensation shall be retained for each recipient or beneficiary of aid.

The file contains the individual information on the beneficiaries, the constituent elements of the rights available to the various compensation schemes and/or the aid granted, the data on the last job lost and the characteristics of the training taken.

The results for the periods compensated for month M are thus known, at the latest, at the end of month M+ 1. However, a certain setback is needed in order to know, in a comprehensive way, the compensated population at any given time. Indeed, every month, the file continues to grow rich over past periods. It takes a setback of about six months to achieve completeness due to delays in file processing or late filing of grant applications.

The FNA is fed monthly from operational applications. An individual is present in the FNA if he or she is a job seeker registered with Pôleemploi or if he receives or has received an allowance or assistance.

Albania Monthly Social Benefits: Unemployment: per Person data was reported at 16,330.000 ALL in Sep 2022. This records an increase from the previous number of 16,000.000 ALL for Jun 2022. Albania Monthly Social Benefits: Unemployment: per Person data is updated quarterly, averaging 6,850.000 ALL from Mar 2004 (Median) to Sep 2022, with 75 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 16,330.000 ALL in Sep 2022 and a record low of 3,960.000 ALL in Jun 2004. Albania Monthly Social Benefits: Unemployment: per Person data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Institute of Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Albania – Table AL.G032: Monthly Social Benefits: Unemployment and Social Protection (Discontinued).

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) Program is a Federal-State cooperative program between the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the California EDD’s Labor Market Information Division (LMID). The QCEW program produces a comprehensive tabulation of employment and wage information for workers covered by California Unemployment Insurance (UI) laws and Federal workers covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program. The QCEW program serves as a near census of monthly employment and quarterly wage information by 6-digit industry codes from the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at the national, state, and county levels. At the national level, the QCEW program publishes employment and wage data for nearly every NAICS industry. At the state and local area level, the QCEW program publishes employment and wage data down to the 6-digit NAICS industry level, if disclosure restrictions are met. In accordance with the BLS policy, data provided to the Bureau in confidence are used only for specified statistical purposes and are not published. The BLS withholds publication of Unemployment Insurance law-covered employment and wage data for any industry level when necessary to protect the identity of cooperating employers. Data from the QCEW program serve as an important input to many BLS programs. The Current Employment Statistics and the Occupational Employment Statistics programs use the QCEW data as the benchmark source for employment. The UI administrative records collected under the QCEW program serve as a sampling frame for the BLS establishment surveys. In addition, the data serve as an input to other federal and state programs. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the Department of Commerce uses the QCEW data as the base for developing the wage and salary component of personal income. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and California's EDD use the QCEW data to administer the Unemployment Insurance program. The QCEW data accurately reflect the extent of coverage of California’s UI laws and are used to measure UI revenues; national, state and local area employment; and total and UI taxable wage trends. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes new QCEW data in its County Employment and Wages news release on a quarterly basis. The BLS also publishes a subset of its quarterly data through the Create Customized Tables system, and full quarterly industry detail data at all geographic levels.

Historical series of Income Expense Analysis, Unemployment Compensation Fund, Benefit Payment Account Reports (ETA-8413) which provide monthly analysis of daily transactions in state payment accounts from the books of the bank on which benefit checks or warrents are issued. This report includes information on bank charges, account balances, and bank compensation associated with the state benefit payment accounts.

Denmark Personal Income: Public Transfer: UB: Unemployment Benefits data was reported at 15,084,770.000 DKK th in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 14,576,570.000 DKK th for 2016. Denmark Personal Income: Public Transfer: UB: Unemployment Benefits data is updated yearly, averaging 18,332,842.500 DKK th from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2017, with 18 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 22,845,126.000 DKK th in 2004 and a record low of 7,729,862.000 DKK th in 2008. Denmark Personal Income: Public Transfer: UB: Unemployment Benefits data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistics Denmark. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Denmark – Table DK.H010: Income Statistics: Personal Income.

The Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program is a federal-state cooperative effort which produces monthly estimates of produces monthly and annual employment, unemployment, and labor force data for approximately 7,000 areas including Census regions and divisions, States, counties, metropolitan areas, and many cities.

For more information and data visit: https://www.bls.gov/lau/

Historical series of the State Unemployment Insurance (UI) Weekly Claims & Extended Benefits Trigger Data Reports (ETA-539) which contain data used in the production of the UI Weekly Claims news release. The data also includes information of the Extended Benefit program trigger status and includes the information provided by states to the US Department of Labor indicating the weekly extended benefits trigger status.

In the fiscal year 2023, around ******* persons in Japan received unemployment benefits per month on average. In the past decade, the average number of recipients was the highest in 2020.

Dataset contains monthly counts, from 2001 to present, of individuals receiving regular unemployment insurance benefits, as well as the total amount of benefits received from New York State.

Data are provided for the state, 10 labor market regions, and counties. State counts can include everyone who receives benefits through New York State (including out-of-state residents) or only state residents who do so (excluding out-of-state residents).

Regular unemployment insurance includes: Unemployment Insurance (UI) Compensation, Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE), Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Service Members (UCX), Shared Work (SW) and Self Employment Assistance Program (SEAP). It excludes federal extensions and 599.2 training.

In 2024, the total value of unemployment insurance benefits paid out in South Korea amounted to approximately ** trillion South Korean won, showing an increase from the previous year. Overall, unemployment benefit payments have increased significantly in recent years.

In 2024, the public unemployment insurance in China paid on average ***** yuan per month to every unemployed beneficiary. This was an increase of *** yuan compared to 2021.