Jobless Claims Rise Another 5.2 Million for April 11

Insured Unemployment Rate Now the Highest on Record as COVID-19 Mitigation Efforts Crush Historically Strong Labor Market

Washington, D.C. (PPD) — The U.S. Labor Department (DOL) reported initial jobless claims rose more than expected to 5,245,000 for the week ending April 11, attributable to the mitigation efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). That’s a decrease of 261,000 from the previous week’s upwardly revised (+9,000) level at 6,615,000.

Forecasts ranged from a low of 2,000,000 to a high of 8,000,000. The consensus forecast was 6,000,000.

The previous week’s average was revised up by 2,250 from 4,265,500 to 4,267,750.

Lagging Jobless Claims Data

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate rose another 3.1% to 8.2% for the week ending April 4. This marks the highest level of the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate in the history of the seasonally adjusted series.

The previous high was 7.0% in May of 1975.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 4 was 11,976,000, an increase of 4,530,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 9,000 from 7,455,000 to 7,446,000.

This marks the highest level of seasonally adjusted insured unemployment in the history of the seasonally adjusted series.

The 4-week moving average was 6,066,250, an increase of 2,568,500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 2,250 from 3,500,000 to 3,497,750.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 28 were in Rhode Island (11.9), Pennsylvania (9.8), Nevada (9.6), Washington (9.3), Connecticut (8.9), Massachusetts (8.7), Minnesota (8.7), Michigan (8.5), Ohio (8.4), and Georgia (8.2).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 4 were in Georgia (+256,312), Michigan (+84,219), Arizona (+43,488), Texas (+38,982), and Virginia (+34,872), while the largest decreases were in California (-139,511), Pennsylvania (-127,037), Florida (-58,599), Ohio (-48,097), and Massachusetts (-41,776).