NUMBER OF WORKERS EXHAUSTING UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
BENEFITS SETS RECORD LEVEL FOR A DECEMBER
PDF of this report If you cannot access the files through the links, right-click on the underlined text, click "Save Link As," download to your directory, and open the document in Adobe Acrobat Reader. New data from the U.S. Department of Labor show that the number of workers exhausting their regular unemployment insurance benefits without qualifying for additional benefits was larger in December 2001 than in any other December on record. In recent months, the number of unemployed workers who have exhausted their regular unemployment insurance benefits has climbed sharply.
- In December 2001, some 300,000 workers exhausted their regular unemployment insurance benefits, an increase of 129,000 or 75 percent from the December 2000 level. (The approach followed here is to compare figures in the same months of the year; this is necessary since the Labor Department data on the number of workers exhausting benefits are not seasonally adjusted.) At the time that these workers exhausted their unemployment benefits in December, no state provided additional weeks of assistance.(1) These workers lost the income they had been receiving from unemployment insurance without having secured jobs.
- In no other December on record (with data back to 1973) did so many workers exhaust their regular benefits and not qualify for additional unemployment benefits. In Decembers of previous recessions, when the numbers of individuals exhausting their regular benefits reached levels roughly comparable to that reached in December 2001, temporary federal unemployment insurance programs were in place to provide additional weeks of assistance.(2) But with no such program currently in place, none of the workers who exhausted their regular unemployment benefits in December 2001 qualified for additional unemployment assistance under either the extended benefits program (which is a partially state-funded program) or a temporary federal program. The number of workers exhausting their regular unemployment benefits without qualifying for additional benefits consequently was higher in December 2001 than in any December in the previous four recessions.
- In the fourth quarter of 2001, nearly 860,000 unemployed workers exhausted their regular unemployment benefits. None of them qualified for additional unemployment aid.
- The number of workers exhausting their unemployment benefits has climbed sharply in recent months. The number of exhaustees was 19 percent greater in the second calendar quarter of 2001 than in the second quarter of 2000. In the third quarter of 2000, the number of exhaustees was 42 percent greater than in the third quarter of 2000. The number of exhaustees was 70 percent greater in the fourth quarter of 2001 than in the fourth quarter of 2000.
A portion of the increase in the number of workers exhausting their unemployment benefits, as compared to the number that exhausted benefits in previous recessions, reflects an increase in the number of workers in the labor force. Yet even after this factor is taken into account, the number of exhaustees in December 2001 remains strikingly high. Measured as a share of the labor force, the percentage of workers who exhausted their regular benefits and did not qualify for additional benefits was higher in December 2001 than in any other December on record, with the sole exception of December 1981, a month in which the unemployment rate stood at 8.5 percent. The number of workers who exhausted their regular unemployment benefits but did not qualify for additional benefits was 246,000 in December 1981; this was less than the 300,000 workers who exhausted benefits in December 2001. Measured as a share of the labor force, however, the percentage of workers exhausting benefits in December 1981 without qualifying for additional benefits was marginally higher than the percentage that exhausted benefits in December 2001.
Since December 2001, as unemployment has continued to rise, two states Oregon and Washington have reached their state "triggers" for providing "extended unemployment benefits." Starting on January 6, 2002, these states provide an additional 13 weeks of benefits to workers whose regular unemployment insurance benefits have run out. Oregon and Washington are among a small number of states that have adopted criteria for the provision of extended unemployment benefits that are less restrictive than the criteria other states use. In most states, unemployment is unlikely to reach the state's trigger for providing extended benefits in the months ahead even if the unemployment rate continues to rise.
State-by-state Comparisons
As the table on the next page indicates, the change between the fourth quarter of 2000 and the fourth quarter of 2001 in the number of workers exhausting their unemployment benefits varies across states, but the number of exhaustees has risen sharply in most states.
- In seven states Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and South Carolina the number of workers exhausting benefits more than doubled from the fourth quarter of 2000 to the fourth quarter of 2001.
- In nearly three-quarters of the states, the number of workers exhausting benefits in the fourth quarter of 2001 was at least 50 percent greater than the number exhausting benefits in the fourth quarter of 2000.
- In California alone, 132,000 workers exhausted their unemployment benefits in the last three months of 2001, an increase of 58 percent over the number exhausting benefits in the last three months of 2000. In Texas, 69,000 workers exhausted their benefits in the last quarter of 2001, an increase of 78 percent.
Number of Workers Who Exhausted Regular Unemployment Insurance Benefits, by State
Fourth Quarter 2000 and 20014th Quarter
20004th Quarter
2001Change
Percent
ChangeAlabama 7,069
9,910
2,841
40%
Alaska 3,851
4,094
243
6%
Arizona 5,146
9,172
4,026
78%
Arkansas 5,386
8,354
2,968
55%
California 83,726
131,992
48,266
58%
Colorado 4,871
10,996
6,125
126%
Connecticut 5,917
10,247
4,330
73%
DC 1,795
2,324
529
29%
Delaware 1,390
1,674
284
20%
Florida 24,538
36,509
11,971
49%
Georgia 10,365
24,470
14,105
136%
Hawaii 1,540
2,165
625
41%
Idaho 2,264
3,622
1,358
60%
Illinois 22,521
42,299
19,778
88%
Indiana 8,982
16,543
7,561
84%
Iowa 3,967
5,596
1,629
41%
Kansas 4,223
4,955
732
17%
Kentucky 4,507
8,291
3,784
84%
Louisiana 6,042
6,899
857
14%
Maine 1,480
3,513
2,033
137%
Maryland 5,885
8,914
3,029
51%
Massachusetts 12,098
23,400
11,302
93%
Michigan 17,967
34,054
16,087
90%
Minnesota 6,773
12,206
5,433
80%
Mississippi 4,195
6,610
2,415
58%
Missouri 6,467
14,093
7,626
118%
Montana 1,550
1,932
382
25%
Nebraska 2,045
3,213
1,168
57%
Nevada 4,958
7,742
2,784
56%
New Hampshire n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
New Jersey 25,468
39,497
14,029
55%
New Mexico 1,864
2,813
949
51%
New York 42,746
73,241
30,495
71%
North Carolina 10,099
24,496
14,397
143%
North Dakota 914
882
(32)
-4%
Ohio 11,947
24,416
12,469
104%
Oklahoma 2,904
4,865
1,961
68%
Oregon 8,304
16,261
7,957
96%
Pennsylvania 23,929
39,067
15,138
63%
Puerto Rico 13,010
16,149
3,139
24%
Rhode Island 2,825
3,880
1,055
37%
South Carolina 6,021
12,633
6,612
110%
South Dakota 175
333
158
90%
Tennessee 12,383
18,961
6,578
53%
Texas 38,570
68,804
30,234
78%
Utah 2,833
4,560
1,727
61%
Vermont 580
994
414
71%
Virginia 4,644
9,045
4,401
95%
Washington 12,700
21,657
8,957
71%
West Virginia 1,894
2,358
464
24%
Wisconsin 9,155
15,637
6,482
71%
Wyoming 506
492
(14)
-3%
U.S. Total 504,989
856,830
351,841
70%
Note: Data for New Hampshire are not comparable to other states because New Hampshire uses a uniform benefit year.
End Notes
1. Exhaustees in Oregon and Washington who have not found jobs became eligible during the second week of January for additional weeks of benefits through the "extended benefits program," which is partially state-funded. Exhaustees in most other states will remain ineligible for extended benefits, unless the unemployment rate in their state rises to substantially higher levels and their state legislature acts to liberalize state law regarding the level of unemployment that must be reached for extended benefits to be paid.
2. The December in which the number of unemployed workers who exhausted their regular unemployment benefits reached its highest level was in 1982. The number of workers exhausting their regular benefits exceeded 400,000 in December 1982, a higher level than in December 2001. But most of those workers qualified for additional weeks of benefits under a temporary federal program that was then in place. As a result, the number of workers exhausting benefits without securing any additional benefits was higher in December 2001 than in December 1982.