First-time jobless claims for the week ending May 23 increased by 2.123 million, bringing the total number of Americans who have filed for unemployment benefits to 40.76 million during the past 10 weeks. This data, released Thursday by the Department of Labor, strongly implies that the unemployment ... READ MORE >
unemployment
Five states surpass 2 million initial jobless claims since the onset of the coronavirus
There are now five states -- California, New York, Florida, Texas and Georgia – that have processed more than 2 million initial claims for unemployment benefits since the outbreak of the coronavirus in March. Six states have registered 1 million or more newly unemployed people and 13 have added at least a ... READ MORE >
Initial jobless claims: Mass unemployment continues to rise
First-time jobless claims for the week ending May 16 increased by 2.438 million to bring the total number of Americans who have filed for unemployment benefits to 38.9 million during the past nine weeks. To put that in perspective, it is parallel to the entire population of California, which is the ... READ MORE >
Initial jobless claims, state by state: 11 now have a million or more claims since coronavirus outbreak
There are now 11 states with a million or more newly unemployed people and 11 other states with at least a half-million added to the unemployment rolls. That brings the total to 36.5 million claims of newly unemployed persons processed by the state employment agencies in the eight weeks since the outbreak ... READ MORE >
Elevated first-time and continuing jobless claims show mounting stress in the labor market
Stress in the domestic labor market continued to intensify as 2.98 million individuals filed first-time jobless claims for the week ending May 9, bringing the total to 36 million during the coronavirus pandemic. Those filing continuing claims for the week ending May 2 jumped to 22.83 million, according to ... READ MORE >
U.S. April employment report: Prelude to a tragedy
The weight of this sad time we must obey, Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. The oldest hath borne most: We that are young. Shall never see so much, nor live so long. William Shakespeare, “King Lear” We must remember the gravity of this sad day. Like William Shakespeare, who wrote “King ... READ MORE >
Jobless claims, state by state: Eight have a million or more since the coronavirus outbreak
Initial filings for unemployment benefits increased by 3.2 million newly unemployed people during the week ending May 2. That means that a cumulative 33.5 million claims of newly unemployed people have been processed by the state agencies in the seven weeks since the economies of most states were shut ... READ MORE >
Initial jobless claims continue to rise to extreme levels
While the pace of first-time jobless claims has slowed over the past five weeks -- about the only good thing one can say about the labor market in the United States -- the increase of 3.2 million in jobless claims for the week ending May 2 brings the cumulative total to 33.5 million during the past seven ... READ MORE >
U.S. April employment report preview: A magnitude complete in itself
It can be unsettling that when human tragedy strikes we tend to talk in the strict, sterile terms of statistics. When the U.S. employment report is released on Friday, we will try to provide context and a framework for understanding the catastrophe occurring throughout the country that is accompanied by a ... READ MORE >
American Badlands: 30 million unemployed in six weeks
In just over six weeks, 30.2 million Americans have joined the ranks of the unemployed, which implies a near real-time unemployment rate of 23.8%. For the week ending April 25, approximately 3.83 million individuals filed for first-time unemployment claims. Once one accounts for those who have been ... READ MORE >