1 in 5 Workers File For Unemployment During Pandemic
18 percent of the U.S. workforce has lost their job since the start of the pandemic.
On March 19th, the downtown Milwaukee Punch Bowl Social laid off 91 employees. Photo by Jennifer Rick.
The number of Americans that have filed for unemployment since the start of the pandemic passed 30 million last week.
The U.S. Department of Labor released new unemployment claim numbers Thursday for the week ending April 25. During that time 3.8 million people filed for unemployment. Add that to the numbers since the beginning of March and 30.8 million people have filed for unemployment.
The COVID-19 pandemic has lead to an unprecedented shutdown of economic activity, approximately one in five U.S. workers have lost their job, that’s 18 percent of the 163 million person labor force in the United States that has lost their job in less than two months.
In Wisconsin, more than 41,000 people filed for unemployment in the past seven days. During that same seven day period last year there were 4,145 claims for unemployment.
Increasing unemployment also means that the number of people without health insurance is increasing. The Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank based in Washington, D.C., estimates that 12.7 million workers have lost their health insurance since the start of the pandemic.
The economic devastation is beginning to put political pressure on leaders attempting to deal with the virus. In Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers and Secretary of the Department of Health Services Andrea Palm have faced increasing pressure from the state’s GOP leaders to reopen businesses across the state.
The state’s largest business lobby, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, has started pushing their plan to reopen the state by May 1st.
One economist told Urban Milwaukee in the beginning of the pandemic that the economic devastation from opening too soon would likely be worse than the pain that comes from waiting to open until the virus has been adequately contained.
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More about the Coronavirus Pandemic
- Governors Tony Evers, JB Pritzker, Tim Walz, and Gretchen Whitmer Issue a Joint Statement Concerning Reports that Donald Trump Gave Russian Dictator Putin American COVID-19 Supplies - Gov. Tony Evers - Oct 11th, 2024
- MHD Release: Milwaukee Health Department Launches COVID-19 Wastewater Testing Dashboard - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Jan 23rd, 2024
- Milwaukee County Announces New Policies Related to COVID-19 Pandemic - County Executive David Crowley - May 9th, 2023
- DHS Details End of Emergency COVID-19 Response - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Apr 26th, 2023
- Milwaukee Health Department Announces Upcoming Changes to COVID-19 Services - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Mar 17th, 2023
- Fitzgerald Applauds Passage of COVID-19 Origin Act - U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald - Mar 10th, 2023
- DHS Expands Free COVID-19 Testing Program - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Feb 10th, 2023
- MKE County: COVID-19 Hospitalizations Rising - Graham Kilmer - Jan 16th, 2023
- Not Enough Getting Bivalent Booster Shots, State Health Officials Warn - Gaby Vinick - Dec 26th, 2022
- Nearly All Wisconsinites Age 6 Months and Older Now Eligible for Updated COVID-19 Vaccine - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Dec 15th, 2022
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Giving tenants housing vouchers stops almost all evictions. No clogged courts, no boarded houses, the city gets its taxes. Problem solved. Extending the eviction moratorium does not put more money into the hands of tenants when they have no job! Without meaningful financial aid from the state, nobody wins!