Weekly first time unemployment claims released by the Department of Labor increased last week, to 898,000, the highest they’ve been since August, yet another sign that the economic impact of the coronavirus is not waning.
With the previous week’s number revised up by 5,000, that increased the weekly claims by 6.3%. The four-week moving average also increased to 866,250.
More than 25 million Americans are taking some type of unemployment benefit, down less than 1% from the previous week, another sign of consistent job losses. One year ago 1.4 million people were getting unemployment payments.
Swing states in the election saw some of the largest increases week-over-week in first time claims. Georgia (+8,526), Florida (+2,489), North Carolina (+3,546) and Wisconsin (+2,914) saw significant increases week-over-week. Indiana saw the largest increase (+18,788), while Michigan (-4,793) saw the largest decrease in first time claims.