Research
UI Claims Top 30 Million in 6 Weeks, U.S. Unemployed Now Larger Than Texas Population
Daniel Zhao
Chief Economist at Glassdoor | Apr 30, 2020
Initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) fell for the fifth week in a row last week. While each week's report pushes further past the peak of initial claims, millions of Americans are still filing for unemployment insurance each week. Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 3.8 million on a seasonally-adjusted basis, according to the latest figures from the Department of Labor for the week ending April 25, 2020. That pushes the total of UI claims to over 30 million in the past six weeks. In other words, the number of Americans who've filed for UI is larger than the entire Texas population. Claims for the week of April 18 were revised up to 4.44 million from 4.43 million.
Several states have begun reopening, pushing many furloughed workers to choose between returning to work and losing their UI payments. This may decrease initial and continuing UI claims in those states. However, the staggered reopening is unlikely to immediately staunch the flow of new claims, especially if restrictions are later reinstated.
Conversely, claims are still elevated as states ramp up processing capacity and implement the expansion of UI eligibility under the CARES Act. Two recent surveys indicate millions more Americans have been unable to successfully apply to UI yet. While neither offers a precise prediction, they represent millions of Americans unaccounted for by current claims data who could apply for UI in coming weeks. We may be past the peak of initial claims, but we aren’t out of the woods yet.
To speak with Daniel Zhao about today’s report or to discuss labor market trends, contact pr at Glassdoor dot com. For the latest economics and labor market updates, follow @danielbzhao on Twitter and subscribe to Glassdoor Economic Research.
Several states have begun reopening, pushing many furloughed workers to choose between returning to work and losing their UI payments. This may decrease initial and continuing UI claims in those states. However, the staggered reopening is unlikely to immediately staunch the flow of new claims, especially if restrictions are later reinstated.
Conversely, claims are still elevated as states ramp up processing capacity and implement the expansion of UI eligibility under the CARES Act. Two recent surveys indicate millions more Americans have been unable to successfully apply to UI yet. While neither offers a precise prediction, they represent millions of Americans unaccounted for by current claims data who could apply for UI in coming weeks. We may be past the peak of initial claims, but we aren’t out of the woods yet.
To speak with Daniel Zhao about today’s report or to discuss labor market trends, contact pr at Glassdoor dot com. For the latest economics and labor market updates, follow @danielbzhao on Twitter and subscribe to Glassdoor Economic Research.Daniel Zhao
Daniel Zhao is Chief Economist at Glassdoor. On Glassdoor's Economic Research team, he has conducted research using Glassdoor's unique data on a variety of topics affecting job seekers and employers ranging from the health of the job market to pay transparency to employee engagement & retention. His work has been cited in publications like the New York Times, the Harvard Business Review and more. Prior to joining the Economic Research team, he also worked on improving the user experience for Glassdoor’s consumer jobs product and mobile app. He holds a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics and economics from Harvard College.
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