U.S. Department of Labor Announces 6.6M Unemployment Claims in Past Week

U.S. Department of Labor Announces 6.6M Unemployment Claims in Past Week

Economists and business analysts are running out of adjectives to describe the precipitous fall in U.S. jobs.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday reports that “in the week ending April 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 6,606,000, a decrease of 261,000 from the previous week's revised level."

More than 165,000 Rhode Islanders are now unemployed.

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The previous week's level was revised up by 219,000 from 6,648,000 to 6,867,000.

The 4-week moving average was 4,265,500, an increase of 1,598,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 54,750 from 2,612,000 to 2,666,750.

Nearly every new number released during the economic downturn is a new record.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 5.1 percent for the week ending March 28, an increase of 3.0 percentage points from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 28 was 7,455,000, an increase of 4,396,000 from the previous week's revised level. This marks the highest level of seasonally adjusted insured unemployment in the history of the seasonally adjusted series. The previous high was 6,635,000 in May of 2009. The previous week's level was revised up 30,000 from 3,029,000 to 3,059,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,500,000, an increase of 1,439,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 7,500 from 2,053,500 to 2,061,000.”