Initial unemployment insurance claims rise for week ending June 3

BATON ROUGE – Initial unemployment insurance claims for the week ending June 3, 2017 increased to 2,965 from the previous week’s total of 2,907. For the comparable week a year ago, ending June 4, 2016, 3,590 initial claims were filed.

The four-week moving average of initial claims increased to 2,832 from the previous week’s average of 2,754.

Continued unemployment insurance weeks claimed for the week ending June 3, 2017 increased to 22,765 from the previous week’s total of 22,563. Continued weeks claimed were below the comparable figure of 23,596 for the week ending June 4, 2016.

The four-week moving average of continued weeks claimed increased to 22,498 from the previous week’s average of 22,319.

The Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) has numerous options and available resources to aid every individual who seeks help. Dependent on her mother’s benefits, Aleoun Hill needed to make a change for herself. After she received help from the DeSoto Parish Business and Career Solutions Center by way of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Ms. Hill enrolled in a licensed practical nursing program at a local community college, and completed her studies. Able to land a job shortly after, she is thankful for the help the LWC provided to move her life in a positive direction.

The Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) has countless tools both in person and online to help claimants file and process their claims. This is in addition to the agency’s 59 local offices statewide, job fairs, training programs, apprenticeship opportunities and numerous other services.

Updates to the LWC’s unemployment information processing system are still being implemented. As a result, the following data are not currently available: the break-out of interstate claims, Louisiana unemployment insurance claimants' parish of residence, unemployment insurance claims by industry and UI claimants who have received at least one check during the reference month in Louisiana. Additionally, all reported numbers on initial and continued claims are estimates.

For more detailed information on occupational groups of unemployment insurance claimants, visit www.laworks.net and select Labor Market Information.

The Unemployment Insurance (UI) Weekly Claims Data webpage includes the following: UI Weekly Claims Data by Regional Labor Market Area and by Parish, UI Weekly Claims Data by Industry for Louisiana, UI Definition and UI Monthly Claimant Characteristics by Parish. To access these products, select Labor Market Information at www.laworks.net, scroll down the LMI page to the LMI Products section, and select Unemployment Insurance Claims.