New claims drop but Michigan unemployment still above 500,000
In this May 7, 2020, file photo, a pedestrian walks by The Framing Gallery, closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in Grosse Pointe, Mich. If you’re one of the millions of Americans making less or receiving unemployment benefits because of the coronavirus pandemic, you’re probably working to recalibrate your finances. If you don’t have any savings, it’s smart to minimize debt payments for a month or two so you can gather cash to have on hand.
(The Center Square) – Michigan was in the top 5 U.S. states reporting the largest decreases in initial unemployment claims for the week ending July 11.
The state reported a 6,882 week-over-week decline in new claims for that week. New claims in Michigan dropped by another 5,884 claims the week ending July 18.
The state isn’t entirely out of the woods yet, however.
Michigan’s unemployment stands at 506,099 total claims as of July 18, according to U.S. Department of Labor data released Thursday morning.
The DOL reported 21,836 new claims in Michigan for the week ending July 18, marking 5,884 new claims below the previous week’s 27,720 initial claims.
National numbers jumped 109,000 initial claims for the week ending July 18 to 1,416,000 total claims, bumping the nation’s unemployment to just above 11 percent.
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending July 11 were in Florida (+65,890), Georgia (+33,292), California (+20,123), Washington (+16,116), and Indiana (+6,258), while the largest decreases were in Maryland (-13,728), Texas (-11,583), New Jersey (-8,577), Michigan (-6,882), and Louisiana (-5,066).
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending July 4 were in Puerto Rico (26.0), Nevada (21.3), Hawaii (20.7), Georgia (18.0), California (16.9), Louisiana (16.6), New York (16.1), Connecticut (15.4), the Virgin Islands (15.2), and Massachusetts (15.0).
