America workers filed 4.3 million unemployment claims in July, a drop of 28% from June’s level of 6.0 million.
The national unemployment rate now sits at 10.2%, down from 11.1 in June. At the height of the lockdown in April, the unemployment rate stood at 14.%. We started the year at 3.6% in January.
Several highlights from this month’s report:
- Daily average unemployment claims for 2020 to date, are up 723% versus 2019.
- At the state level, the three states with the biggest year-to-year increases in unemployment claims, compared to the national average of 723% are: George (+1281% vs. national), Florida (+1086% vs. national) and New Hampshire (+811% vs. national).
- By contrast, the states with the lowest level of unemployment claims are: Oregon (-342% vs. national), Montana (-324% vs. national) and Pennsylvania (-322% vs. national).
In a previous post we focused on the devastating impact COVID-19 has had on specific sectors of the economy, notable hospitality and food service. While things have improved, those sectors still are dealing with staggering levels of unemployment:
- Unemployment in the Leisure and Hospitality industry is now at 25.0%, down from its April high of 39.3%
- Unemployment among those who work in food service and food preparation is now at 26.3%, which is down from 41.8% in April
CLICK HERE to see our complete Unemployment Workbook on the RDS Tableau Public page.
