MASSACHUSETTS — MONTHLY UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMANT DATA

BOSTON, MA— September 15, 2022—Massachusetts had 23,997 initial claims for regular Unemployment Insurance (UI) during the month of August, a decrease of 1,6391 claims from the previous month. Most initial claims (IC) this month were seen in Construction, Retail
Trade, and Healthcare and Social Assistance. Continued weeks claimed (CWC) decreased by 12,158 from the previous month to 229,060. Most CWC were seen in Retail Trade, Food and Accommodation, and Transportation and Warehouse.

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which was implemented on May 21, 2020, had 0 initial claims filed and 342 continued weeks claimed, a decrease of 206 CWC from the previous month. The PUA benefits program ended on September 4, 2021.
The Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), which was implemented on May 21, 2020, had a total of 19 initial claims. CWC decreased by 17 to 385 claims. The PEUC program ended on September 4, 2021.

The federal/state Extended Benefits (EB) program, which triggered on May 3, 2020, due to the high volume of claims, had one more IC from the previous month and CWC also increased by 2 claims. The EB program ended on July 17, 2021.

The Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), which was implemented on May 21, 2020 and provided an additional $300 a week on top of regular benefits, also ended on September 4, 2021 and has had no changes since.

NOTE: Following the termination of pandemic assistance (PUA, FPUC, PEUC) and long-term benefit (EB) programs, claims reports will be published in conjunction with the Massachusetts Unemployment and Job Estimates monthly releases, at mass.gov/lwd in the News and Updates section. Weekly UI claims reporting can be found at https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf.

1 This is the difference from the estimate which DUA/DER calculated considering July 2022 saw an increase in potentially fraudulent initial
claims filed

OVER-THE-MONTH CHANGES BY NAICS
All but five sectors saw increases in initial claims filed over the month of August. Construction leads with the greatest increase in number of initials claims (+76%). The largest percentage increase is seen in the Management of Companies sector (98%). Of the top three sectors with initial claims increases, Construction sector claims differ most from the median trend in previous years. The Food and Accommodation, Retail Trade, and Wholesale Trade sectors saw the largest drops in number of initial claims in August.

All sectors except for Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation, Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting, and Construction saw decreases in CWC over the month. Food and Accommodation sector claims dropped by approximately 6,000. Following a spike in the month of July, Retail Trade sector claims dropped by almost 2,000.

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