3.2M More Americans File For Unemployment, Total Nears 35M In Past 7 Weeks
On Thursday (May 7), the Department of Labor updated that another 3.2 million Americans have filed for unemployment, bringing the total number of jobs lost amid the coronavirus crisis to 33.5 million within the last seven weeks.
After first hitting 3.9 million claims in the week ending on March 21, then peaking at nearly 6.9 million the following week, the next three weeks after have seen a decline in numbers. Now, the US Labor Department states, “Initial claims were 3,169,000 for the week ending 5/2 (-677,000). Insured unemployment was 22,647,000 for the week ending 4/25.”
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The areas that have seen the most regional rises are New Jersey, New Mexico, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Puerto Rico. In a historical perspective, the numbers near the estimated peak unemployment during the Great Depression, and worse than unemployment for most in the 1930s.
Additionally, Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, says the real unemployment rate is most likely higher than what’s reported. She adds, “I think we are not near the peak yet. I think we are still going to see additional job losses show up in the data for May, for June. Unfortunately, I don’t think this has gotten as bad as it will get yet.”
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