The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) reports decreases in initial and continued unemployment claims, with the initial and continued claims’ four-week moving average declining. The agency also continues its plan to host career fairs later this June.

“Last week, the agency reported an increase in both initial and continued claims for the week ending May 22,” said Shelley Zumwalt, OESC Executive Director. “However, those numbers have been revised and the agency is seeing that both the revised initial and continued claims numbers have decreased. Additionally, the agency is shifting its method of reporting claims numbers to ensure we accurately report the status of unemployment in Oklahoma.”

Moving forward, the agency will move away from reporting unemployment estimates and will report adjusted numbers instead. This change will mean the following:

Weekly numbers will continue to be reported by OESC

Numbers will be for two weeks prior to the current date and will not include estimates for the previous week

This change will help ensure unemployment numbers are reported accurately.

Due to a reporting discrepancy, the numbers reported by the U.S. Department of Labor (U.S. DOL) may not be consistent with the number OESC reported. However, OESC has provided updated information to the U.S. DOL so they can update their data.

June Career Fairs

This month, OESC plans to host two career fairs in Oklahoma as federal unemployment benefits come to an end. The agency will host its Tulsa career fair on June 23 and the Oklahoma City career fair on June 25.

“We are hopeful that claimants will find many employment opportunities at these career fairs, and I encourage claimants looking for employment to take these additional opportunities and attend the career fairs,” said Zumwalt. “We will have thousands of open positions available from a multitude of industries, and now is the best time to get back to work and take advantage of the $1,200 Return-to-Work Incentive.”

Claimants can also register for OESC’s virtual career fair. Individuals who are looking for other resources while job searching can visit OESC’s website at https://oklahoma. gov/oesc. Additionally, claimants looking for work who need childcare assistance are encouraged to use the Oklahoma Department of Human Services’ (OKDHS) 60 days of subsidized childcare by visiting https://okdhslive.org/.

Weekly Unemployment Numbers for Week Ending May 22.

For the file week ending May 22, the number of initial claims totaled 8,360, a decrease of 284 from the previous week's level of 8,644.

Initial claims’ four-week moving average was 9,364 a decrease of 2,252 from the previous week's average of 11,616.

The number of continued claims totaled 18,202, a decrease of 2,057 from the previous week’s level of 20,259.

Continued claims’ fourweek moving average was 21,743, a decrease of 1,959 from the previous week's average of 23,702.

Nationally, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for the week ending May 29 was 385,000, a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Department of Labor reports. The fourweek moving average was 428,000, a decrease of 30,500 from the previous week’s revised average. For the week ending May 22, U.S. DOL reports the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.7%, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week's unrevised rate.

The national weekly seasonally adjusted initial claims report is one of 10 components in the Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators. To smooth out the volatility in the weekly initial claims data, a four-week moving average is used to assess trends.

Claimant Resources

Individuals seeking unemployment benefits should go to https://ui.ok.gov and create an account with the Get Started button to connect their social security number and pull all unemployment information into one location.

Unemployment claimants should be aware that not returning to work when recalled or when work is available could potentially lead to disqualification from receiving unemployment benefits.

Employers may report this activity by emailing returntowork@oesc.state.ok.us, calling 405-962-7524, or mailing OESC at P.O. Box 52006, Oklahoma City, OK, 73152-2006.

If a claimant returns to work full time, they should keep their unemployment claim open with OESC and not certify a weekly claim. If they return part time, a claimant may continue to certify their weekly claim and must report all gross earnings for the week to potentially receive a partial benefit. Eligibility for continued benefits is determined on the circumstances of each individual claimant.

OESC is an excellent resource for people looking to re-enter the job market by connecting Oklahomans with available employment through https://okjobmatch.com/.

If a PUA-eligible claimant reopens their business, they will still receive backdated unemployment benefits to when their COVID-19-related job loss or business closure occurred.