A new analysis released Tuesday shows that more U.S. workers filed unemployment claims last week than during any other week in the nation’s history.
An estimated 3.4 million Americans filed such claims for the week ending March 21, according to the findings from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
“This will dwarf every other week in history,” wrote EPI’s Aaron Sojourner and Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, adding, “The true impacts are undoubtedly of larger scale than described here.”
One year on, US-brokered peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan cements US foothold in the Caucasus
‘DEI queen’: Virginia Dem’s past embrace of far-left prosecutors unearthed
Slain California fire captain’s wife admits murder after Mexico capture, serving time for killing first spouse
Megan Rapinoe Melts Down After Seeing Photo of Sophie Cunningham with Riley Gaines
Muslims Kill 30 Nigerian Christians in Latest Village Attack
Middle school student arrested after allegedly stashing homemade firearms for robbery plot: sheriff
Persecution of Egyptian Christians Continues in Series of Recent Incidents
Report: Muslim Brotherhood, US-Designated Terror Organization, Celebrates Abdul El-Sayed Primary Win Through Its Media Outlet
Dem Senate hopeful flip-flops on emerging issue impacting communities across US
Socialism’s campus appeal meets Gen Z resistance as students keep score on communism
Socialist wave ‘ripping America apart’ will hit a wall with Michigan voters: Rising star House candidate
Outgoing Cracker Barrel CEO to Receive Millions in Severance Pay
Conservatives Clash Over Caitlin Clark’s Response to Question About Trans Athletes
Democratic socialist Francesca Hong has former child star, OnlyFans model in senior campaign role: report
Airbnb’s $750,000 to Karen Bass fuels pay-to-play claims over LA rental policy
The startling calculation—based on claims in 35 states and Washington, D.C. and extrapolated to the other 15 states—comes as the nation continues to experience a rise in cases of the novel coronavirus—with over 46,000 confirmed as of Tuesday—and as ordinary Americans feel the economic and societal impacts of the crisis, with schools, stores, and work places temporarily shuttered, varying degrees of lockdowns in place, and households and frontline workers still wondering if lawmakers will put their urgent needs above those of corporate America.
A graph accompanying the new EPI analysis, which is based on data from news reports from March 15 to March 21, illustrates the enormous jump in unemployment claims—even if the actual figure ends up being on the analysts’ low-end projection of 3 million claims. At no other point in the timeline shown does the figure even scrape 1 million.
Reaction to the findings was stark:
One year on, US-brokered peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan cements US foothold in the Caucasus
‘DEI queen’: Virginia Dem’s past embrace of far-left prosecutors unearthed
Slain California fire captain’s wife admits murder after Mexico capture, serving time for killing first spouse
Megan Rapinoe Melts Down After Seeing Photo of Sophie Cunningham with Riley Gaines
Muslims Kill 30 Nigerian Christians in Latest Village Attack
Middle school student arrested after allegedly stashing homemade firearms for robbery plot: sheriff
Persecution of Egyptian Christians Continues in Series of Recent Incidents
Report: Muslim Brotherhood, US-Designated Terror Organization, Celebrates Abdul El-Sayed Primary Win Through Its Media Outlet
Dem Senate hopeful flip-flops on emerging issue impacting communities across US
Socialism’s campus appeal meets Gen Z resistance as students keep score on communism
Socialist wave ‘ripping America apart’ will hit a wall with Michigan voters: Rising star House candidate
Outgoing Cracker Barrel CEO to Receive Millions in Severance Pay
Conservatives Clash Over Caitlin Clark’s Response to Question About Trans Athletes
Democratic socialist Francesca Hong has former child star, OnlyFans model in senior campaign role: report
Airbnb’s $750,000 to Karen Bass fuels pay-to-play claims over LA rental policy
This chart, holy shit https://t.co/luqjZ4ngsh pic.twitter.com/NeCbcOY1aw
— Christopher Ingraham (@_cingraham) March 24, 2020
Sojourner and Goldsmith-Pinkham, both research associates at EPI, put the projection into the context of the nation’s unemployment rate:
For scale, consider that 3.4 million Americans moving from employment to unemployment would raise the number of the unemployed from 5.7 million to 9.1 million. This alone would raise the unemployment rate by more than half, by 2 percentage points from 3.5% to 5.5%, moving back to 2015 levels in just one week. This spike represents 2.2% of all jobs in the economy. The largest monthly rise in the unemployment rate in American history was plus 1.3 percentage points in October 1949.
One year on, US-brokered peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan cements US foothold in the Caucasus
‘DEI queen’: Virginia Dem’s past embrace of far-left prosecutors unearthed
Slain California fire captain’s wife admits murder after Mexico capture, serving time for killing first spouse
Megan Rapinoe Melts Down After Seeing Photo of Sophie Cunningham with Riley Gaines
Muslims Kill 30 Nigerian Christians in Latest Village Attack
Middle school student arrested after allegedly stashing homemade firearms for robbery plot: sheriff
Persecution of Egyptian Christians Continues in Series of Recent Incidents
Report: Muslim Brotherhood, US-Designated Terror Organization, Celebrates Abdul El-Sayed Primary Win Through Its Media Outlet
Dem Senate hopeful flip-flops on emerging issue impacting communities across US
Socialism’s campus appeal meets Gen Z resistance as students keep score on communism
Socialist wave ‘ripping America apart’ will hit a wall with Michigan voters: Rising star House candidate
Outgoing Cracker Barrel CEO to Receive Millions in Severance Pay
Conservatives Clash Over Caitlin Clark’s Response to Question About Trans Athletes
Democratic socialist Francesca Hong has former child star, OnlyFans model in senior campaign role: report
Airbnb’s $750,000 to Karen Bass fuels pay-to-play claims over LA rental policy
Grim as the scenario painted by the analsis is, reality may be even worse. The researchers wrote that the actual tally of claims “could be substantially higher.” Not all unemployed workers are able to file unemployment insurance claims either, and for those that do, they’ll get about half—or less—of their regular income. The end of the coronavirus crisis is also not in the immediate future.
All that points to the need for the federal government to provide states with more aid.
“American working families are paying a large price through no fault of their own,” wrote Sojourner and Goldsmith-Pinkham. “But there is no shortcutting public health to get the American economy back to work. A healthy economy requires public health.”
Story cited here.
