📈U.S. Unemployment Charts (States N to Z)
Hello! And welcome to another edition of Inside The Newsroom where we’ll be looking at how bad the unemployment situation is in every single U.S. state. On a macro level, the U.S. hasn’t seen this level of unemployment claims since at least the 1960’s, with 6.6 million total claims being made across the country. The surge has been so great that the 2008 financial crisis appears as a small ripple compared to the coronavirus fall out. And it’s pretty much the same story in every state, from the almost one million unemployed workers in California, to the more than 30,000 claims in New Hampshire. Because of the enormity of the situation, and Substack’s email length limitations, we’ve had to split today’s edition into two. Below is a breakdown of states between N and Z. And here’s states between A and M.
I’d like to thank Pia Deshpande for another huge assist with today’s newsletter, as well as today’s beautiful charts. If you’re in the position to hire a data journalist, look no further than Pia.
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Okay, let’s get to it…
Weekly Unemployment Claims, States Over 200,000 for March 28 👇
Weekly Unemployment Claims, States Between 50,000-200,000 for March 28 👇
Weekly Unemployment Claims, States Below 50,000 for March 28 👇
For context, below is a chart of every state’s percent change to give a sense of how bad each state compares with one another. Apologies for the small print.
Percent Change in Weekly Unemployment Claims 👇
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Nebraska
Nebraska's claims only rose by a modest 1,875 percent two weeks ago, and then by a further 57 percent last week. Fortunately for thousands of Nebraskans, governor Pete Ricketts issued an executive order to loosen unemployment insurance eligibility requirements. They mean workers no longer have to wait a week before getting their first payment, and businesses will be relieved of having to contribute to unemployment payments.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire's initial filings between March 14 and 21 jumped an unfathomable 4,500 percent, the highest in the nation. The events of the past month, like in most other states, are quickly turning into a potential depression, let alone a recession.
New Jersey
The Garden State is currently using a 40-year old computer system to deal with the more than 1,000 percent surge in claims over the past fortnight. Officials have started to train more workers to work the phones and alleviate some of the pressure.
New Mexico
New Mexico's unemployment filings increased by 1,983 percent between March 14 and March 21. KOB4 News reports that the surge in filings has proved a challenge for the state's unemployment office, which is training more employees to be able to answer the phone and answer people's questions.
Nevada
A serious concern for most states as the crisis drags on is whether they’ll be able to afford to keep pumping billions into the bank accounts of workers. Nevada forked out $14 million for the week ending March 21 alone.
New York
The New York Times reported that 1,200 airport workers in the New York City metro area were suddenly laid off with no severance two weeks ago. A tiny portion of the more than 360,000 newly unemployed workers in the Empire State, which normally sees around 14,000 claims per week. To be honest, it’s a miracle those figures aren’t higher given the seriousness of the situation in the state regarding the growing deaths from the virus, which saw a new record just yesterday.
North Carolina
The state's unemployment office has hired an additional 50 staff and transferred another 100 employees from other state departments to cope with the uptick in unemployment claims. The Tar Heel State’s claims increased by nearly 2,600 percent from the week of March 14 to the week of March 21.
North Dakota
North Dakota’s booming oil industry has been hit hard by the virus. As oil prices continue to tank, hundreds of oilfield workers are being laid off. To contextualize, a typical week sees 400 new claims, but the latest filings show that 12,591 North Dakotans filed for unemployment. Astonishing.
Ohio
Ohio is one of many, many states whose tourism industry has been crucified. The Jack Cleveland Casino downtown and Jack Thistledown Racino in North Randall have laid off 1,561 employees, part of the state’s more than a quarter of a million new unemployment filings.
Oklahoma
Like North Dakota, Oklahoma's oil industry has taken a huge blow. The oilfield firm Halliburton cut about 350 employees from its workforce on Monday, said last month it would furlough 3,500 workers in Houston to cope with lower prices. Energy companies have slashed spending since oil prices crashed this year more than 60 percent, taking prices below $30 a barrel, less than the cost of production. Halliburton as oil prices continue to plummet.
Oregon
Oregon's leisure and hospitality sectors suffered mass layoffs as businesses have been forced to close, leading many workers to apply for unemployment benefits. However, the surge has overwhelmed Oregon's systems much like the systems of other states. The state is setting up additional phone lines to deal with higher traffic as well as starting to troubleshoot problems with their website.
Pennsylvania
Nine thousand state employees, or more than 10 percent of its workforce, will stop receiving pay by the end of next week as the state scrambles to keep up with soaring unemployment filings.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico remains under lockdown with a curfew allowing residents to be out between 5am and 7pm, only for essential tasks like seeing healthcare providers or buying food. Puerto Rico saw more than 45,000 new claims last week, up from a typical week which sees around 1,500 new cases.
Rhode Island
The Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training was seeing as many as 1,000 new unemployment filings an hour this week. The Ocean State has been hit especially hard, and saw a whopping 3,135 percent increase in filings between March 14 and March 21.
South Carolina
The Medical University of South Carolina temporarily laid off 900 employees and imposed a salary-reduction for all remaining workers. Most employees will see their salary cut by 15 percent, while senior leaders will see their salary docked by 20 percent, in another example of the virus dramatically affecting even those still with jobs.
South Dakota
Claims in South Dakota rose a measly 827 percent a couple weeks ago, and by a further 277 percent one week ago, as the state waived a law that charged employers after employees claimed unemployment benefits.
Tennessee
Tennessee is among many states facing the paradox of laying off healthcare workers during a pandemic. Cookeville Regional Medical Center announced around 400 layoffs as the pandemic cut into hospital revenue and the system struggled to stay open. The magic word here being ‘revenue’, disproving the insane idea that hospitals should be private and make a profit.
Texas
Texas is another state heavily dependent on oil revenue which has been slashed since the pandemic has left most Americans stuck at home. The state is also suffering huge economic losses from the cancellation of SXSW — in 2019 the festival generated $336 million, which also gives most small businesses in Austin an annual revenue bump. For a state of Texas’ size, the 275,000 unemployment claims is extremely low so far.
Utah
Like many sports teams around the world, the Utah Jazz announced layoffs and salary reductions as the prospect of completing the remainder of the regular season or the playoffs looks gloomy. The Jazz were the first NBA team to announce layoffs, as more teams will begin to announce similar measures.
Vermont
Vermont has a weird law that forces self-employed workers to wait a week to file for unemployment benefits. That’s just not good enough.
Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands has been hit dramatically less than most other states, as unemployment filings increased by 180 percent. The island only announced its first death on April 5th, and has closed its borders to mitigate further spread.
Virginia
The spread of coronavirus has affected colleges across the nation and their essential staff who are often at risk. The University of Virginia's dining staff were all laid off by Aramark without severance, except for a few managers. Negotiations are ongoing, but some employees could see no pay for up to six months.
Washington
One of the original epicenters in the U.S., the state's media outlets have met the full consequences of advertising drying up as people remain on lockdown. Sound Publishing, a company that owns 43 papers across the state, including the Everett Daily Herald and the Peninsula Daily News, announced layoffs and furloughs across its 350-strong staff.
West Virginia
Mountain Health and Thomas Health hospital systems have furloughed hundreds of workers at their hospitals. The hospitals have stopped elective procedures in order to prepare for a surge of coronavirus patients, but their hospitals are now empty and their revenue streams dry. I’ll repeat it until the cows come home: HOSPITALS ARE FOR SAVING LIVES, NOT MAKING PROFIT.
Wisconsin
Same old story, this time in Wisconsin, where their poor little infrastructure couldn’t handle the emergencies of its people. Some people were told that if too many people were on hold at once, they would be disconnected. Criminal.
Wyoming
Like North Dakota, Wyoming has seen its energy sectors hit especially hard. The state is offering $300,000 in "layoff aversion grants" to help businesses get through the pandemic, but unemployment continues to rise.
Last week…
#69 — James Spann (ABC 33/40) on the 2020 tornado outlook and how each state is preparing for tornadoes amid the pandemic
🤒 Pandemics That Changed History
#68 — Mckayla Wilkes (U.S. House) on running against 40-year Democrat Steny Hoyer, and the need for Universal Basic Income
… Next week
We’ll have Amy Webb on to talk about why governments and businesses have been so unprepared for this pandemic, and what 2020 could see with the latest technology trends.
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