Regional Memorandum's

All Regional Memorandum

General Criterion	Justification	Readily approvable?1	Required Documentation	Other Documentation Acceptable?
Unemployment rate that exceeds 10%	Recent 12-month average that exceeds 10%	No	BLS or cooperating agency	No
	Most recent 12-month average that exceeds 10%	Yes	BLS or cooperating agency	No
	Recent 3-month average that exceeds 10%	No	BLS or cooperating agency	No
	Historical seasonal unemployment rate exceeds 10%	No	BLS or cooperating agency	No
	Other developed by the state agency	No	None	Yes
Lack of sufficient jobs	A Labor Surplus Area (LSA) designated by the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA)	Yes	ETA	Yes
	24-month average unemployment rate that exceeds the national average by 20%. The 24-month period is no earlier than the same period DOLETA uses to designate LSAs for the current year.	Yes	BLS or cooperating agency	No
	Qualified for extended unemployment benefits by DOL	No	None	Yes
	Low and declining employment-to-population ratio	No	None	Yes
	Lack of jobs in declining occupations or industries	No	None	Yes
	Described in an academic study or other publications as an area where there are lack of jobs	No	None	Yes
	Other developed by the state agency	No	None	Yes

1 Readily approvable simply means that FNS will approve a waiver with this justification once FNS confirms the data. A no does not mean that FNS will not approve the waiver; it simply means that approval will not be automatic.