During the week ending May 20, 2023, unemployment insurance claims in U.S. states totaled 202,044 claims, an increase from the previous week when there were 200,738 claims. During the week, California was the most affected state, with 45,667 initial unemployment insurance claims.

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.

Initial Jobless Claims in the United States increased to 218 thousand in the week ending July 26 of 2025 from 217 thousand in the previous week. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United States Initial Jobless Claims - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Regional unemployment rates used by the Employment Insurance program, by effective date, current month.

Graph and download economic data for Income Before Taxes: Unemployment and Workers' Compensation, Veterans Benefits by Highest Education: Less Than College Graduate: Total (CXUOTHBNFTSLB1402M) from 2012 to 2012 about veterans, no college, secondary schooling, secondary, compensation, benefits, workers, tax, education, income, unemployment, and USA.

The U.S. Department of Labor has been working collaboratively with our state partners to identify several robust strategies that focus on the prevention of overpayments and will yield the highest impact in reducing UI improper payment rates.

Improper Unemployment Insurance benefit payments are most likely to occur when:

Recipients continue to claim benefits after returning to work; Employers or their third party administrators do not submit timely or accurate separation information; and Claimants fail to register with the state's Employment Service (ES) as dictated by state law. Earlier this year, the Department actively intervened to encourage the ten states with the highest Employment Service registration error rates to focus on the issue. Senior DOL officials personally contacted these states to determine specific steps the states would take to address their error rates, and the Department provided targeted technical assistance.

As a result, dramatic progress is being made in this area, with a 23% reduction in improper payments to people who did not register with employment services agencies, including a more than 35% drop in eight states.

Iowa Law requires Iowa Workforce Development to establish a tax table for each year. The unemployment insurance rate table trigger formula is primarily based on the UI trust fund balance, unemployment benefit payment history and covered wage growth. The formula is designed to enable the trust fund to keep pace with potential liabilities as covered unemployment and wages grow. This dataset contains the contribution rate table and the average tax rate for employers subject to the Iowa Unemployment Insurance system. There are eight rate tables each having 21 ranks. Table one has highest average tax rate. Table eight has the lowest average tax rate. The highest average tax rate (based on taxable wages) was 3.38% in 1984 (Table 1). The lowest average tax rate was 0.94% in 1998 (Table 8). [Time Period: 1980-2018]

Graph and download economic data for Income Before Taxes: Unemployment and Workers' Compensation, Veterans' Benefits, and Regular Contributions by Highest Education: College Graduate: Master's, Professional, Doctoral Degree (CXUOTHREGINLB1409M) from 2013 to 2023 about doctoral degree, veterans, contributions, professional, compensation, benefits, tertiary schooling, workers, tax, education, income, unemployment, and USA.

The Belgian labor market faced age and gender differences in 2022. The unemployment rate in Belgium was higher in the male population than in the female population. Furthermore, unemployment was higher in the young population, regardless of gender. In Belgium, a young male was not only more likely to be unemployed as someone older, but also when compared to a same-age female. The unemployment rate in Belgium was 5.6 percent in 2022 and was gradually decreasing since 2015. However, the unemployment rate was unevenly spread throughout the country, some regions having a higher unemployment rate than others.

Unemployment inequalities in Belgium

In the Benelux, Belgium had the highest unemployment rate compared to Luxembourg and the Netherlands in 2018. That year, the number of unemployed people reached 300 thousand people in Belgium. Although a lower unemployment rate was found in Belgium’s young male population, it is not a clear sign that one group is better off than another in the labor market. Information concerning the time length of unemployment, the share of part-time employment, or even the share of discouraged jobseekers should be considered. In 2019, over half of Belgian respondents believed that not enough is being done to achieve equal rights between men and women regarding business.

Employment benefit in Belgium

For Belgians to obtain unemployment benefits, they must fulfill certain conditions. Firstly, they must be over 18 years of age and not old enough for retirement. Secondly, they must not be employed or perceive remuneration. Thirdly, they must no be responsible for the loss of the previous job. It is also necessary that one’s state of health permits to work. Finally, to be entitled to unemployment benefit in Belgium, people must be actively searching for work, meaning that they are available for the labor market, as well as accepting any suitable job offer.

In 2023, the unemployment rate of persons with a disability was at 7.2 percent in the United States. This was a decrease from the previous year, when the unemployment rate was at 7.6 percent. The high unemployment among persons with disabilities may be due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has impacted everyone's employment, as can be seen in the unemployment rate of adults in the United States. The persons with a disability section of the Current Population Survey (CPS) is a set of six questions to identify persons who have physical, mental, or emotional conditions that cause serious difficulty with their daily activities. Disability in the labor force The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows the unemployment rate of persons with a disability that have the ability to participate in the civilian labor force. In 2020 around 20.5 percent of persons with disabilities in the United States participated in the civilian labor force. Among those capable of participating in the civilian labor force, persons with a disability tend to have a higher chance of employment the higher their level of education. Persons with a disability that had a bachelor's degree or higher had the highest employment rate in 2020 at 25.7 percent. Social Security benefits Due to the inability to work, or the lack of access to suitable employment, many persons with a disability rely on government sources for financial aid. A portion of civilian paychecks are taxed to fund programs like the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) which provide this aid. In 2018, around 12.46 million disabled persons received OASDI or SSI benefits in the United States.

Continued Claims for UI released by the CT Department of Labor. Continued Claims are total number of individuals being paid benefits in any particular week. Claims data can be access directly from CT DOL here: https://www1.ctdol.state.ct.us/lmi/claimsdata.asp

Claims are disaggregated by age, education, industry, race/national origin, sex, and wages.

The claim counts in this dataset may not match claim counts from other sources.

Unemployment claims tabulated in this dataset represent only one component of the unemployed. Claims do not account for those not covered under the Unemployment system (e.g. federal workers, railroad workers or religious workers) or the unemployed self-employed.

Claims filed for a particular week will change as time goes on and the backlog is addressed.

For data on continued claims at the town level, see the dataset "Continued Claims for Unemployment Benefits by Town" here: https://data.ct.gov/Government/Continued-Claims-for-Unemployment-Benefits-by-Town/r83t-9bjm

For data on initial claims see the following two datasets:

"Initial Claims for Unemployment Benefits in Connecticut," https://data.ct.gov/Government/Initial-Claims-for-Unemployment-Benefits/j3yj-ek9y

"Initial Claims for Unemployment Benefits by Town," https://data.ct.gov/Government/Initial-Claims-for-Unemployment-Benefits-by-Town/twvc-s7wy

In January 2020, there were around ***** million unemployment insurance claims made in the United States. This was the highest in 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unemployment Insurance Minimum and Maximum Weekly Benefit Amounts1980-2013

In 2023, the unemployment rate in Florida was at 2.9 percent. This is a decrease from the previous year, when the unemployment rate stood at three percent.

The monthly unemployment rate for the United States can be accessed here.

Employment situation in Florida

The unemployment rate in Florida has risen and fallen over the last two decades from a low of 2.5 percent in 2006 to a high of 10.8 percent in 2010. Similarly, the unemployment rate in California reached a low of 4.2 percent in 2019 and a high of 12.5 percent in 2010. As of 2020, there were a total of 8.5 million non-farm employees in Florida, with 1.74 million people working in trade, transportation, and utilities industries and 1.31 million people employed in education and health services. During the same time, the employment to population ratio in the state totaled some 52.9 percent, in comparison to 63.7 percent in Iowa. The fluctuations in unemployment rates can vary due to both domestic and global factors. Locality, skill gap, labor unions, and job openings relative to unemployed numbers can influence monthly unemployment rates, while the outsourcing of jobs by American companies can impact the nation’s availability of jobs.

In Florida, the unemployment benefits program is named the Reemployment Assistance Program to emphasize the job search and reemployment services offered. To be eligible, you must have lost your job through no fault of your own, must be available to work and be actively seeking work, and must have a minimum amount of wages earned during a base period.

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program (also known as ES-202) collects employment and wage data from employers covered by New York State's Unemployment Insurance (UI) Law. This program is a cooperative program with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. QCEW data encompass approximately 97 percent of New York's nonfarm employment, providing a virtual census of employees and their wages as well as the most complete universe of employment and wage data, by industry, at the State, regional and county levels. "Covered" employment refers broadly to both private-sector employees as well as state, county, and municipal government employees insured under the New York State Unemployment Insurance (UI) Act. Federal employees are insured under separate laws, but are considered covered for the purposes of the program. Employee categories not covered by UI include some agricultural workers, railroad workers, private household workers, student workers, the self-employed, and unpaid family workers. QCEW data are similar to monthly Current Employment Statistics (CES) data in that they reflect jobs by place of work; therefore, if a person holds two jobs, he or she is counted twice. However, since the QCEW program, by definition, only measures employment covered by unemployment insurance laws, its totals will not be the same as CES employment totals due to the employee categories excluded by UI.

Graph and download economic data for Continued Claims (Insured Unemployment) (CCSA) from 1967-01-07 to 2025-07-19 about continued claims, insurance, headline figure, unemployment, and USA.

Continuing Jobless Claims in the United States remained unchanged at 1946 thousand in the week ending July 19 of 2025 from 1946 thousand in the previous week. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United States Continuing Jobless Claims - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

The U.S. Department of Labor has been working collaboratively with our state partners to identify several robust strategies that focus on the prevention of overpayments and will yield the highest impact in reducing UI improper payment rates. Improper Une

We examine state-level variation in the flow of benefits under the largest Social Security program - the Old Age (OA) program. Old age pensions remain a robust and growing component of the American social safety net. Although old age pensions are entirely administered by the federal government, state-level demographic features can imply different aggregate levels of program expenditures across states. We describe high levels of variation in the resources flowing into states from the OA program and we find relationships between state features that might seem only remotely related to income support for the elderly: current unemployment rates, previous income levels, poverty rates, and minority populations. We find a particularly strong link between current unemployment rates, OA coverage, and OA average benefits. The number of recipients and the level of average OA payments increase when unemployment increases. This is a poorly understood but important feature of the OA program.

Around 27 percent of children in Bremen were living in households below the poverty line in November 2024. This made Bremen the federal state with the highest share of children in households dependent on social benefits. In contrast, Bavaria had the lowest share of child poverty, with around six percent living in benefit communities.