1 in 5 American workers has filed for unemployment benefits since mid-March

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN

New York (CNN Business)No end is in sight for coronavirus-related job losses. Another 3.2 million Americans filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week, after factoring in seasonal adjustments, the Department of Labor reported Thursday.

Without those adjustments -- which economists use to account for seasonal hiring fluctuations -- the raw number was 2.8 million. That brings the total number of seasonally-adjusted initial claims filed since mid-March to 33.5 million. Initial claims are considered a proxy for layoffs or furloughs, and that level represents about 21% of the March labor force.

These numbers are staggeringly high; weekly jobless claims were hovering in the 200,000s in the last few years before this crisis. But last week also marked the fifth week in a row that the number of initial claims fell. It peaked at 6.9 million in the last week of March. Economists say the downward trend is is a good sign that things aren't getting worse. But still, millions of new claims each week don't help the brutal overall picture of the job market during this pandemic.

Continued jobless claims, representing workers who filed for a second week of benefits or more, rose to 22.6 million. Not all claims result in paid benefits. That is in part due to filing mistakes and because not everyone who submits a claim is eligible for unemployment benefits.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/07/economy/unemployment-benefits-coronavirus/index.html

---

Original CNN article title: 3.2 million more Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week

Full WaPo headline and original WaPo article:

As 3.2 million filed U.S. jobless claims last week, Post-Ipsos poll finds 77 percent of laid-off workers believe they'll get jobs back

More than 33 million people in the past seven weeks have sought unemployment benefits, upending the economic stability of a growing number of Americans.

THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/07/nearly-80-percent-laid-off-workers-believe-they-will-return-their-old-job-post-ipsos-poll-finds/

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Did someone cut the telegraph line to the WaPo? You had me worried. From the source:

https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf

TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL
8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, May 7, 2020

COVID-19 Impact
The COVID-19 virus continues to impact the number of initial claims and insured unemployment.This report now includes information on claimants filing Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation claims.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending May 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 3,169,000, a decrease of 677,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 7,000 from 3,839,000 to 3,846,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,173,500, a decrease of 861,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 1,750 from 5,033,250 to 5,035,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 15.5 percent for the week ending April 25, an increase of 3.1 percentage points from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 25 was 22,647,000, an increase of 4,636,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up 19,000 from 17,992,000 to 18,011,000. The 4-week moving average was 17,097,750, an increase of 3,800,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 5,000 from 13,292,500 to 13,297,500.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Ha! I threw what little they had up initially but decided to switch to CNN

And thank you for the data!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. You're more than welcome. I hadn't noticed that you got the story from CNN.

All I saw was that had posted, and I instantly hit "reply."

[BumRushDaShow]

6. I originally posted the WaPo breaking

and was hoping they wouldn't take forever to update... So checked NYT to see if they had a more substantial article, but theirs was a "live updates" story, which is a pain to keep updating here... So found a bit more of an article at CNN and swapped out the WaPo for the CNN.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. MarketWatch can be a pain too.

They have these one-line bulletins. They look as if you can click on them and get a whole story. Nope. MarketWatch is a DowJones company, so they must have an advance copy. So does the WaPo. I wonder how much they get the story in advance.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. I think it's a matter of the writers getting the copy typed up

and submitted to their web content systems and then have it propagated out for their breaking news. If I'm on the actual website at the time, I will often see the banner appear on the website with a link to the story (although sometimes the link is not even live at the time the banner appears). Otherwise it takes a couple minutes after the embargo is lifted for the breakings to go out to their mobile apps (I usually get a breaking on my iPad at ~8:32 am).

I generally get to the articles via their twitter feeds though - I just leave the twitter accounts up in tabs and refresh to get the latest with a link to the articles once I get a breaking alert.

[Gothmog]

3. These numbers are scary

Link to tweet

[BumRushDaShow]

4. I remember when Obama was first inaugurated in January 2009

and by then, the layoffs were running upwards of 750,000 a month and that was horrendous.

Now we were are talking about millions per week.

[ArizonaLib]

11. If the Senate doesn't turn in November/January

I wonder if unemployment benefits will get renewed. That idiot the administration brought in from the Hoover institute Kevin Hassett has that 'eat my crap' smirk when he talks about waiting to see what happens next before a fourth round of spending, has all the same rhetoric Hoover used from the '29 crash through '33.

[DownriverDem]

9. Many already losing unemployment.

However many employers pay less than folks are getting on unemployment. My husband is one such person. He and his co-workers were called back to work. He makes 100% commission. They were promised $500 per week to come back. That was $400 less per week that they got on unemployment. It turns out his employer called them back with less pay so he wouldn''t have to pay back the loan given employers. As folks have found out, they are not happy.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. I saw a local article about that here in Philly

where you have employers asking for people to come back but for a salary that would come out less than the $600 supplement for UE form one of the stimulus bills... And the article was analyzing the painful decisions that people have to consider - with the fact that if they were re-offered their jobs, then they wouldn't qualify for UE and if they quit due to the lower salary, they obviously wouldn't be eligible for UE (which requires a layoff or at least a furlough). Sounds like a large loophole.

https://www.inquirer.com/economy/called-back-work-unemployment-pays-more-coronavirus-20200505.html

[ffr]

12. Add 3.2 million to those who might question voting for a republican ever again.

Last week.