A record surge of Americans filing unemployment claims is starting to stall after another 4.4 million people in the country filed jobless claims last week, pushing the total claims above 26 million since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak a month and a half ago.
Today’s unemployment numbers show that roughly 26.5 million Americans have lost their jobs since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, completely wiping out the 22.7 million new jobs created since the Great Recession and adding another somber milestone to the economic toll this novel virus has taken on the U.S.
On the brighter side, the new data from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Thursday showed that jobless claims slowed nationwide after weeks of claims poured in, sending the nation’s economy into a nosedive. The new numbers — down from 5.2 million last week — have provided a glimmer of hope across the country as many states look to reopen their economies in the immediate future.
But not all states were fortunate this week.
Hit hardest, claims in the Sunshine State skyrocketed, with over 500,000 people filing for unemployment for the week ending on April 18. The new total was up by 324,718 claims from the week prior, with Florida easily outpacing other states.
Not all areas of the country have suffered equally, however, as WalletHub’s updated rankings for the States with the Biggest Increases in Unemployment Due to Coronavirus saw Florida reach the number one spot for the first time. The new ranking comes weeks after Governor Ron DeSantis implemented a stay-at-home order for the state.
To identify which states’ workforces have been hurt most by COVID-19, the personal-finance website compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on increases in unemployment claims. They used this data to rank the most impacted states in both the latest week for which we have data (April 13) and overall since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis (March 16). Below, you can see highlights from the report.
Increase in Florida Unemployment Due to Coronavirus (1=Worst, 25=Avg.):
- 8,445.71% Increase in Unemployment Claims (April 2020 vs April 2019)
- 505,137 the week of April 13, 2020 vs 5,911 the week of April 15, 2019
- The highest increase in the U.S.
- 10,838.44% Increase in the Number of Unemployment Claims (April 2020 vs January 2020)
- 505,137 the week of April 13, 2020 vs 4,618 the week of January 1, 2020
- The highest increase in the U.S.
- 3,951.01% Increase in Unemployment Claims Since Pandemic Started
- 1,158,238 between March 16, 2020 and April 13, 2020 vs 29,315 between March 18, 2019 and April 15, 2019
- 10th highest increase in the U.S.
To view the full report, click HERE.