Economic Report

U.S. jobless claims fall back to 229,000 after fraudulent filings are erased

Last Updated: May 25, 2023 at 10:11 a.m. ET
First Published: May 25, 2023 at 8:42 a.m. ET
By Jeffry Bartash

Fraud in Massachusetts inflated spring increase in requests for unemployment benefits

The numbers: The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits before Memorial Day weekend totaled a low 229,000 after Massachusetts took dramatic steps to weed out a massive increase in fraud.

New jobless claims in the seven days ended May 20 rose by 4,000 from 225,000 in prior week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The figures are seasonally adjusted. ... Yet U.S. jobless claims for the first two weeks of May were slashed after Massachusetts amended its prior reports. ... The result: Jobless claims show little or no sign of rising U.S. layoffs since the early spring.

“From the week ending Feb. 25 through the week ending May 6, {sic, that is one long week} Massachusetts now reports a total of 38,028 [unadjusted] claims, as opposed to the total of 192,037 shown last week before the fraudulent claims were tossed,” noted chief economist Richard Moody of Regions Financial.

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