3.8 million more Americans file for unemployment in wake of pandemic
More than 3.8 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, as the number of workers sidelined by the coronavirus crisis exceeded 30 million, new federal data show.
That means nearly one-fifth of the nation’s workforce — more people than in the entire state of Texas — tried to collect unemployment checks in just six weeks as the pandemic spurred mass layoffs across the country.
The US Department of Labor’s latest seasonally adjusted total of initial jobless claims remained at a level that was unthinkable less than two months ago — even as it fell from 4.4 million in the week ending April 18. Economists had expected 3.5 million new claims last week.
“What really stands out about the current crisis is the pace, the speed with which we’ve hit that mark,” Daniel Zhao, a senior economist at job-search Web site Glassdoor, told The Post. “That’s really unprecedented in American economic history.”
Initial claims peaked at 6.9 million in the last week of March — as states worked through massive backlogs — but have since dropped for four consecutive weeks.
But New York’s unadjusted total rose to 218,912 last week from 205,184 the prior week, putting it among eight states that recorded increases, according to the feds.
The number of people filing continued claims also climbed to a record 17.9 million in the week ending April 18 from the previous week’s 15.8 million. The feds report those continuing claims with a one-week lag.
Some of those people may still be waiting for checks because overwhelmed states are taking weeks to actually pay out after marking claims as “pending,” according to unemployment insurance expert Andrew Stettner.
“Unemployment systems are set up to ramp up when there’s a recession, they’re used to that. But this is just so much more than they’ve ever had to deal with,” said Stettner, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank.
“They don’t have the power to push the pasta dough through the pasta maker,” he told The Post.
New York’s Department of Labor delivered more than $3 billion in unemployment benefits to more than 1 million people in six weeks, as state officials scrambled to process a surge of applications, commissioner Roberta Reardon said Thursday.
But the money has taken weeks to reach some New Yorkers, such as Dane Sterns of Long Island, who lost his job in mid-March but didn’t receive his first check until this week.
The 31-year-old gym manager said he initially sought unemployment insurance late last month but then learned he had to apply for “Pandemic Unemployment Assistance,” which the feds created for people who usually can’t get traditional benefits.
Sterns submitted that application on April 15 and finally got his first payments Monday — but the state is giving him just $178 a week, he said.
“The amount of angst that I have over not knowing how I’m gonna pay my bills next month is unexplainable,” Sterns told The Post.
The latest national numbers indicate the coronavirus crisis has caused job losses on a scale not seen since the Great Depression, as lockdowns meant to stem the spread of the deadly virus forced many businesses to close and lay off or furlough their workers.
Some states, such as Georgia, have started allowing certain businesses to reopen, which could bring some of the jobs back.
The feds’ monthly employment report for April will provide one of the broadest pictures yet of just how deeply the virus has gutted the labor market when it’s released next Friday.
Some experts expect the unemployment rate will surge to 20 percent by June, from just 4.4 percent in early March.
The stark numbers are part of the reason states are hoping to reopen as soon as possible.
With initial White House social-distancing guidelines expiring on Thursday, about half the US states were pressing ahead with plans to ease restrictions on businesses and social life, aiming to revive economies stalled by coronavirus while keeping people safe.
With Wires