California Tops Two Million Jobless Claims

The week ending on April 4 saw another huge number of initial jobless claims in the U.S. with over 6 million for the second week in a row. In total, that brings the jobless claims filed in the U.S. to over 16 million in just the last three weeks.

California has been leading the country in initial jobless claims since the week ending on March 21, with Californians filing over two million claims in the last three weeks. The only other state to surpass one million has been Pennsylvania, although since those numbers haven’t been publicly released, they’re only estimates. Other states hit hard with surging unemployment are Michigan, New York and Texas – all surpassing 700,000 jobless claims each in the last three weeks.

The economic impact of the COVID-19 disease is creating an unemployment spike not seen in the country since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Many are predicting April to show an unemployment rate of over 15 percent, and that number could continue to skyrocket as the year progresses. At the end of March, the Senate approved a historic $2 trillion stimulus for the country in anticipation of record unemployment. Restaurants, hotels and airlines have been hit the hardest, as people all over the country and the world stay home and socially distance themselves.