Another 4.4M file for unemployment

Illinois claims drop to just over 100k, but over last five weeks more than 25M have lost jobs nationally

The economic collapse caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has idled more than 26 million U.S. workers over the last five weeks. (Shutterstock)

By Ted Cox

The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that an additional 4.4 million workers filed for unemployment across the nation last week, pushing claims over the last five weeks beyond 25 million.

The 4.4 million new jobless claims were down from 5.2 million the week before, as well as the record 6.9 million who filed in the last week of March as coronavirus lockdowns swept across the nation. But since the Labor Department first reported a new record with 3.3 million claims in mid-March — shattering the previous one-week record of 695,000 set in the midst of President Reagan’s first-term recession in 1982 — an estimated 26.2 million U.S. workers have lost their jobs.

According to Labor Department data, Illinois saw claims drop for the second straight week, to 103,000, down from 141,000 the week before and a record 200,000 the week before that. And that was as Gov. Pritzker touted a “vast improvement” in the online Illinois Department of Employment Security enrollment system at his daily coronavirus briefing on Wednesday. Pritzker said daily claims were running 17 times higher than they were at this time a year ago.

But that was as states across the nation prepared for another surge as unemployment was being made available to independent contractors, freelancers, tipped employees, and gig workers also known as 1099 workers, for the annual income statements they receive instead of the W-2s that go to salaried workers. Congress expanded unemployment to those idled workers through a coronavirus relief package, with the funding set to go out next month. Pritzker has said that 1099 workers who file unemployment claims should expect benefits to begin the week of May 11.

“Today’s unemployment report shows continued, elevated unemployment claims caused by the coronavirus pandemic,” said U.S. Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia in a statement. “The Department of Labor is continuing to provide guidance and support to the states as they implement the enhanced unemployment benefits under the CARES Act, with 44 States now paying the $600 additional weekly benefit provided by the act. The department also continues to implement the paid-leave requirements of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and has now initiated hundreds of cases to ensure workers receive what they’re entitled to under the law.”

The Labor Department reported: “The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 11 percent for the week ending April 11, an increase of 2.8 percentage points from the previous week's unrevised rate. This marks the highest level of the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate in the history of the seasonally adjusted series.”

The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 4.4 percent in March as the first COVID-19 layoffs were being recorded, but Fortune magazine estimated after Thursday’s report was released that the actual unemployment rate had risen above 20 percent. The official April unemployment report was scheduled to be released May 8.

Last week, IDES reported that the Illinois unemployment rate rose from a record low of 3.4 percent to 4.6 percent, with the increase blamed on the “initial impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on Illinois businesses and households, based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

“As the COVID-19 outbreak unfolded, this administration moved quickly to overhaul our systems, expand access to benefits, and implement new programs providing working families with the support they need,” said Deputy Governor Dan Hynes. “We will continue using every tool available to help workers, families, and small businesses face these unprecedented challenges as we keep our communities safe.”