As California continues its statewide shelter-in-place order in response to the spread of coronavirus, California governor Gavin Newsom stated that the daily number of unemployment insurance claims in the state has skyrocketed dramatically.
During a press conference Monday night, Newsom reported that the daily average of claims over the last seven days is 106,000. The normal average per day is just 2,500, meaning the number of jobless claims has increased by over 4,000%. The governor called for block grants from the federal government to help the state pay for benefits.
“It is critical that the states get these block grants, that states have the capacity to meet this moment without exhausting their unemployment insurance funds,” he said.
www.sfgate.com/politics/article/California-unemployment-coronavirus-numbers-news-15152303.php
WISCONSIN — Since March 15, more than 100,000 people in Wisconsin have applied for unemployment.
On Monday, over 21,000 people applied for unemployment alone. The numbers from last week and this week exceeds 100,000.
All this, coming from the Department of Workforce Development. Monday’s 21,000 is the highest daily rate we have seen throughout this whole pandemic, and the numbers are expected to rise even more.
www.tmj4.com/news/coronavirus/over-100k-people-have-applied-for-unemployment-since-march-15
Next week numbers are going to be even higher.
It’s not just restaurants and movie theaters cutting jobs. Small business layoffs spread.
Restaurants, movie theaters and sports arenas aren’t the only businesses laying off employees and cutting hours as the coronavirus crushes the U.S. economy.
So are law firms, marketing companies, insurance providers and countless other enterprises that may seem insulated from the more direct body blows of an outbreak that has triggered the shutdown of public gathering spots across the country.
The vast majority of those affected are small businesses that lack the cash or credit lines that can prop up airlines and other large corporations for many months before they have to slash jobs. Firms with fewer than 500 employees make up 47% of private-sector payrolls, according to the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council.
To be sure, restaurants, hotels, hair salons, stores and other consumer service providers are on the front lines of the economic meltdown as they lose the bulk of their sales, forcing them to abruptly lay off most or all employees. But those developments have reverberated across the economy in recent days, hammering the revenue of professional service businesses that sell to those restaurants and movie theaters, and creating a cloud of uncertainty that has chilled U.S. commerce broadly.
AC