Historical Data on Jobless Claims
- Unemployment benefits are available to those who have involuntarily lost their jobs but are available to work. The Social Security Act of 1935 was established at the end of the Great Depression to encourage states to enact unemployment insurance laws. The law has changed somewhat over the years, including the addition of extended benefits in the 1970s. However, the principal is the same: to provide to eligible workers a portion of their prior earnings to assist them during a time of transition.
- The federal government began tracking weekly jobless claims in 1967. These measurements were used to predict future economic activity. For the remainder of the decade, jobless claims peaked in January 1968 and January 1969, with approximately 37,000 and 33,000 claims, respectively. The troughs of the late 1960s occurred in the early and late summers of 1968 and 1969, with initial jobless claims approaching 13,000. However, at the end of the summer of 1969, a steep increase in claims began.
- Unemployment remained cyclical between 1970 and 1974, with jobless claims periodically spiking to approximately 50,000 from 20,000, with January being the usual high point. However, in 1975, initial jobless claims reached an all-time high of more than 90,000. Although unemployment declined over the rest of the year, with a small spike in July to approximately 50,000 claims, it peaked again in January 1976 at 70,000 claims. It returned to its cyclical pattern, with claims spiking near the 70,000 mark, with high points increasing every January until 1983, when it peaked near 90,000 again. After 1983, the January spike declined steadily until January 1990, with a brief increase in 1986.
- The recession that began in the early 1990s included a period of high unemployment, with initial claims spiking near 90,000 in January 1992. It subsequently declined to lower spikes in January 1995 and January 2002, when claims approached 60,000. Claims remained fairly steady during the early 2000s, with high points averaging about 70,000 claims, but it very suddenly spiked from a low of about 55,000 claims in January 2008 to over 90,000 in January 2009. The peaks have declined every year since, with initial jobless claims at just over 40,000 in June 2011.
