Initial seasonally adjusted claims for unemployment insurance increased last week to the highest level since the U.S. Department of Labor started tracking the numbers, according to a report released this morning.
In New York, there were 395,949 new unemployment insurance claims for the week ended April 11 compared with 344,451 the previous week, an increase of 51,498.
For the week ending April 11, nationwide initial claims totaled 5,245,000, a decrease of 1,370,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The unemployment rate stood at 8.2%, a jump of 3.1% from the previous week. The previous high was 7 percent in May 1975.
The advance seasonally adjusted number for overall insured unemployment during the week ending April 4 was 11,976,000, an increase of 4,530,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This marks the highest number for seasonally adjusted unemployment in the history of the seasonally adjusted series.
It wasn’t just the private sector that got hit by higher unemployment figures. Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits filed by former civilian employees of the federal government totaled 3,395 in the week ending April 4, an increase of 944 from the prior week. There were 2,044 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 292 from the preceding week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 28 were in Rhode Island (11.9%), Pennsylvania (9.8%), Nevada (9.6%), Washington (9.3%), Connecticut (8.9%), Massachusetts (8.7%), Minnesota (8.7%), Michigan (8.5%), Ohio (8.4%), and Georgia (8.2%).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 4 were in Georgia (up 256,312), Michigan (up 84,219), Arizona (up 43,488), Texas (up 38,982), and Virginia (up 34,872).
The largest decreases were in California (down 139,511), Pennsylvania (down 127,037), Florida (down 58,599), Ohio (down 48,097), and Massachusetts (down 41,776).
In Connecticut, there were 33,962 new unemployment insurance claims for the week ended April 11 compared with 33,464 the previous week, an increase of 498.
