Jobless claims drop below 2M, but 43M total in pandemic

Illinois claims continue decline, including expanded benefits for gig workers

A Chicago theater marquee can only advise former patrons to take precautions in the pandemic. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)

By Ted Cox

New one-week unemployment claims dropped below 2 million nationwide last week for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, but that still meant that almost 43 million U.S. workers had lost their jobs over the last three months.

The U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims for the week dipped to 1.9 million, the lowest figure since 3.3 million filed in mid-March, shattering the previous one-week record of 695,000 set during the 1982 recession. But that still meant that every week since had seen multiples of that previous record file for benefits, including the 1.9 million last week, which brought the estimated total to 42.6 million.

Illinois claims continued to decline, according to the federal data. Statewide claims dropped to 46,522 last week, from 58,263 the week before. Expanded federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims for so-called gig workers, including independent contractors and freelancers idled by the economic decline brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, dropped below 10,000, to 9,792, from 14,450 the week before — even though those workers only became formally eligible for the benefits in Illinois on May 11.

The Labor Department reported: “The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 14.8 percent for the week ending May 23, an increase of 0.5 percentage point from the previous week's revised rate. The previous week's rate was revised down by 0.2 from 14.5 to 14.3 percent.”

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics was scheduled to release its monthly report on the May unemployment rate Friday morning. With the continuing job losses stemming from the pandemic, analysts expected it to approach 20 percent after hitting 14.7 percent in April.