Since the beginning of the COVID-19 public health emergency, the U.S. economy has come to a virtual standstill. Unemployment claims, in the meantime, have skyrocketed as companies have furloughed or laid off employees to remain solvent.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there were 5,245,000 initial unemployment claims for the week ending April 11. Initial unemployment claims fell from the previous week, when 6,615,000 unemployment claims were filed in the United States.
Approximately 22 million people are currently unemployment in the United States as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. The unemployment data for the month of April is set to be released on May 8. The March unemployment data was released on April 3 and showed that the country’s unemployment rate was 4.4 percent. However, the April data will show a significantly higher unemployment rate.
Throughout the United States, the moving average of initial unemployment claims has been 5,508,500 per week. Last week, the average was 4,267,750 unemployment claims.
In Arkansas, the Labor Department reports there are 34,635 advance initial claims for the week of April 11. In the previous week, there were 62,086 initial claims filed. This marks a decrease of 27,451 initial claims between the two weeks.
For the week of April 4, there were 64,356 insured unemployment claims. This was an increase from the prior week, when 36,499 insured unemployment claims were filed.
It is currently unclear how many total unemployment claims have been filed in Arkansas. Last week, Arkansas Department of Commerce Secretary Mike Preston told reporters that 150,000 unemployment claims would likely be processed by the end of the weekend.
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