Read on Twitter
Another 3 million Americans filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week, the 8th straight week of million-plus claims. As a reminder, before this period, the most claims EVER filed in a week was 695,000 in 1982.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/business/unemployment-claims-numbers-stock-market-coronavirus.html?type=styln-live-updates&label=economy&index=1
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/business/unemployment-claims-numbers-stock-market-coronavirus.html?type=styln-live-updates&label=economy&index=1
On a not-seasonally-adjusted basis (probably a better measure given the unprecedented nature of this crisis), claims last week were a still-catastrophic 2.6 million.
Note that these figures do NOT include filings under the "Pandemic Unemployment Assistance" program, which expanded eligibility to people who don't qualify for normal benefits.
There were 842k PUA filings last week, down from 1 million the week before.
There were 842k PUA filings last week, down from 1 million the week before.
Note that we don't know when these layoffs occurred -- backlogs have made it hard for people to file, and might deter others from filing right away. So we shouldn't assume all 3 million claims are from new layoffs (although clearly many are).
Over the past eight weeks, a total of 33 million people (not seasonally adjusted) have filed for unemployment. That's one out of every five U.S. workers.
And remember that unemployment claims understate the damage. In our latest @SurveyMonkey poll, only 45% of people who said they'd applied for benefits reported being successful. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/business/economy/coronavirus-unemployment-claims.html
One data note: The next monthly jobs report will cover data through this week (i.e. next week's claims report).
So far, there have been 11.6 million unemployment claims filed since the data was collected for the last jobs report. https://twitter.com/nick_bunker/status/1260915053890600960
So far, there have been 11.6 million unemployment claims filed since the data was collected for the last jobs report. https://twitter.com/nick_bunker/status/1260915053890600960
(One caution on theses cumulative figures: As businesses start to reopen in some states, we'd expect to see at least some hiring. So don't assume all of the people who have filed claims are still unemployed, although of course many of them are.)
