An accession occurs when a job starts; that is, on the first occurrence of a SEIN-PIK pair following the first quarter of available data. When the QWI system detects an accession, it measures the number of quarters (up to a maximum of four) that the individual spent nonemployed in the state prior to the accession. The QWI system estimates the number of quarters spent nonemployed by looking for all other jobs held by the individual at any employer in the state in the preceding quarters up to a maximum of four. If the QWI system does not find any other valid UI wage records in a quarter preceding the accession, it augments the count of nonemployed quarters for the individual who acceded, up to a maximum of four. Total quarters of nonemployment for all accessions is divided by accessions to estimate average periods of nonemployment for accessions.

Average periods of nonemployment for new hires and recalls are estimated using exactly analogous formulas except that the measures are estimated separately for accessions who are also new hires as compared with accession who are recalls.