Job loss claims top 40.7M in 10 weeks; Hudson Valley unemployment 14.2%

The number of workers in the U.S. filing unemployment insurance claims in the last 10 weeks as the COVID-19 outbreak took its economic toll has topped 40.7 million with the addition of 2.1 million new claims for the week ending May 23, according to statistics released this morning by the U.S. Department of Labor.

In the week ending May 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 2,123,000, a decrease of 323,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 8,000 from 2,438,000 to 2,446,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 14.5% for the week ending May 16, a decrease of 2.6 percentage points from the previous week’s revised rate. The previous week’s rate was revised down by 0.1% from 17.2% to 17.1%.

The April 2020 unemployment rate for the Hudson Valley region as reported by the New York State Department of Labor was 14.2%. That is up from 4% in March 2020 and up from 3.3% in April 2019. In April 2020, there were 156,200 unemployed in the region, up from 45,600 in March 2020 and up from 37,100 in April 2019. Year-over-year, the labor force decreased by 37,900 or 3.3%, to 1,096,800.

In April 2020, the highest unemployment rate within the region (15.6%) was recorded in Orange County. Ulster County had 14.6%, Westchester County was at 14.1%. Putnam County also was at 14.1%, as was Dutchess County. The rate for Rockland County was 13.4% and Sullivan County was 13.1%.

Nationally, initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits filed by former federal civilian employees totaled 1,824 in the week ending May 16, an increase of 101 from the prior week. There were 1,213 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 137 from the preceding week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending May 9 were in: Washington at 31.2%; Nevada at 26.7%; Florida at 25%; Hawaii at 23.4%; Michigan at 23.1%; California at 20.6%; New York at 19.9%; Rhode Island at 18.8%; Vermont at 18.2%; Connecticut at 18%; and Georgia, which also was at 18%.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 16 were in: California, up 31,764; Washington, up 29,288; New York, up 24,543; Florida, up 2,322; and Michigan, up 1,549.

The largest decreases in initial claims for the week ending May 16 were in: Georgia, down 65,041; New Jersey, down 27,324; Kentucky, down 22,051; Louisiana, down 11,580; and Pennsylvania, down 11,172.

Connecticut had 16,584 claims for the week ending May 23, down 9,376 from the previous week, while New York had 192,193, down 31,769 from the previous week’s 223,962 claims.

After White House economics adviser Kevin Hassett appeared on CNN and said that the government’s official unemployment rate could hit 20% in June, the White House revealed it would not be releasing the usual midyear updated economic forecast over the summer. In February, it had projected 3.1% economic growth through the fourth quarter of 2021 with an unemployment rate of 3.5% through 2020.

At the same time, the White House is claiming that it was President Trump and not individual governors who shut down the economy to combat the spread of COVID-19. However, federal guidelines on combating the disease had been voluntary and Trump issued an executive order requiring some businesses hit by outbreaks to remain open.

In an official Tweet, the White House said: “Closing our economy involves real consequences and tradeoffs. President @realDonaldTrump”™s decision to do it was the right one and saved many lives.”