Continuing Claims: What They Are and How They Work

What Are Continuing Claims?

Continuing claims track the number of U.S. residents filing for ongoing unemployment benefits in a given week. It measures ongoing unemployment benefits, which is in contrast to initial claims, which track new filings for benefits.

In order to be counted among continuing claims, a person must be covered by unemployment insurance and must be currently receiving benefits. They must have been unemployed for at least a week after filing the initial claim as per Department of Labor (DOL) specifications.

Understanding Continuing Claims

The term unemployment refers to the state of being unemployed. This means that an individual cannot work or is unable to find employment.

When people lose their jobs through no fault of their own, they may file for unemployment benefits. These are claims that are filed with their state governments for payments, which are made for a certain period of time.

Continuing claims are just as their name implies: They are made for ongoing or continuing unemployment claims. As such, continuing claims (which are also called continued claims or insured employment) count or measure workers who receive weekly unemployment benefits.

People who receive continued claims have already filed an initial claim. Because everyone counted here previously filed that claim, this data doesn't provide financial market participants with much new information.

Having said that, it's important to note that continuing claims aren't considered to be a leading indicator of the economy. The count of claims doesn't distinguish between someone ending claims because they found a job and someone who has exhausted the benefit.

For a typical unemployment claim, the DOL releases several monthly employment reports providing much more useful information on labor market conditions.

Like initial claims, continuing claims are released Thursdays at 8:30 a.m. ET in the Department of Labor's report on unemployment insurance weekly claims. The report aggregates information from state agencies administering the claims. It provides unadjusted and seasonally adjusted data and charts, as well as a breakdown of claims by state.

Unemployment As an Economic Measure

Unemployment is a very important measure of a nation's economy. Others include inflation and gross domestic product (GDP). Governments measure unemployment to determine the state of the economy and where it may be headed.

Statistics for continuing and initial unemployment claims in the United States are determined based on data collected and reported by the Department of Labor.

Workers are also consumers whose spending provides work for others, so the pace of job gains and losses is crucial to the economy's performance. While the monthly employment report provides a more complete labor market picture, initial unemployment claims offer a more frequent indicator of the pace of layoffs.

Continuing Claims vs. Initial Claims

As noted above, initial jobless claims are contrasted with continuing claims. Unlike continuing claims, initial claims measure new applications for unemployment benefits rather than those for ongoing unemployment on a weekly basis.

First-time claims are reported for the week that ends the prior Saturday. Continuing claims in the same report are for the week ended 12 days before the report date.

While continuing claims is considered to be a lagging, or at best, a coincident growth signal, initial claims are considered a leading economic indicator because they are a prompt measure of the weekly layoffs trend nationwide. Initial claims can be particularly telling at economic turning points.

The Bottom Line

Unemployment benefits are provided to people who lose their jobs through no fault of their own and are actively seeking work or are willing to take on a new job. Unemployment is measured in a few ways, including continuing claims. These claims represent the number of people who filed for and received unemployment benefits for two or more weeks. This is in contrast to initial claims, which are the first claims filed by individuals for unemployment.