WASHINGTON–The U.S. economy reported losing 20.5-million jobs during April, with unemployment hitting nearly 15%, with the new data showing five states have been hit particularly hard.
Numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that over the six weeks ending April 25, unemployment hit at least 25% in five states: Hawaii, Kentucky, Georgia, Rhode Island and Michigan. That’s a huge swing in those states, where prior to the pandemic unemployment was as low as 2.7% in Hawaii and as “high” as 4.4% in Kentucky.
Many other states continue to report a surge in jobless claims, and some states, including Florida, continue to experience significant problems with their unemployment office’s computer systems, preventing many people from successfully filing. In Washington, for instance, initial claims jumped 74.6% week over week, while in neighboring Oregon, initial claims increased 25.6%.
Only three states, Nebraska, Utah and South Dakota, have reported six-week initial unemployment claims equal to less than 10% of their state's labor force.
Last week’s unemployment numbers showed the 20.5-million jobs lost during April were the largest decline since the government began tracking the data in 1939.
Double the Financial Crisis Losses
Those losses follow steep cutbacks in March as well, when employers slashed 870,000 jobs. Those two months amount to layoffs so severe, they more than double the 8.7 million jobs lost during the financial crisis, noted CNN Business.
The new jobless numbers are actually even more grim than they appear, as they come from a survey of employers and do not include independent contractors, such as Uber and Lyft drivers in the gig economy.