[null and void]

The “official” unemployment rate doesn’t take into account whether or not you are receiving or have exhausted unemployment benefits. A person’s classification is based on a series of questions about his or her “major activity” during the survey reference week.

Sort of. The "series of questions" are asked on the UI benefit forms.

Once you've exhausted your benefits, you cease filling out the forms...

[riverdawg]

“The ‘series of questions’ are asked on the UI benefit forms.”

Yes, for the purpose of determining eligibility for UI benefits. For the purpose of determining the unemployment rate each month, however, the relevant “major activity” questions are asked as part of interviews of a stratified random sample of the working-age population (called the Current Population Survey) conducted by the Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.