A man looks at the closed sign in front of Illinois Department of Employment Security in Chicago, Wednesday, April 15, 2020. With half-a-million people bounced out of jobs in the past month because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois' unemployment safety net has been stretched to the limit. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Another 5.2 million people filed for unemployment in the week ending April 11, according to a U.S. Department of Labor report released Thursday morning.
In any other year, that would be a historic jump, but this is the fourth consecutive week that jobless claims numbered in the multimillions. A total of 22 million have applied for unemployment benefits during that time.
Last week's number is actually a turnaround from the week prior when 6.6 million applied. The drop could be a sign that the trend is starting to slow; some analysts believe that the number will steadily drop in the coming weeks, even as the U.S. continues to see relatively high numbers.
California had the most jobless claims with 660,966, but that represented a fall from 918,814 the prior week. New York saw its number continue to rise with 395,949 claims, an increase from 344,451.
Before the coronavirus put the economy on lockdown, the one-week national record for jobless claims had been 695,000 in 1982.
Unlike the Great Recession, which saw layoffs trickle in over a longer period, the nature of the coronavirus shutdown has led to an immediate spike in unemployment.
The most optimistic economists are hoping the situation can be reversed just as quickly, once governors begin to steadily reopen the economy, but many experts believe the recovery will take time.
In the meantime, states are struggling to keep up with the massive waves of claims. State unemployment funds are being strained, with a number set to run out in the next few months.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
