Updated: May 7, 2020
55K more Mass. workers file for unemployment
Photo | Grant Welker
Retail plazas, like this one on Route 9 in Shrewsbury, have been largely vacant since the coronavirus pandemic hit, leading to record-high unemployment claims.
By Grant Welker
More than 55,000 new unemployment claims were filed by Massachusetts workers last week, bringing the total during the coronavirus pandemic to 778,000.
The new figures, reported Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor, show two continuing trends: a weekly decrease since a peak in late March, but also incredibly high rates of workers seeking unemployment benefits at a time when most restaurants and retailers are closed or operating on significantly reduced staffs.
Monthly unemployment numbers for Massachusetts aren't yet available for April. In March, the state's unemployment rate was 2.9%, a figure among the lowest nationally and doesn't factor in restrictions on businesses that forced many employees out of work more than halfway through the month.
The state's record high monthly unemployment figure was 10.3% in March 1976, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. April could easily break that. The 778,064 who've filed for unemployment in the last seven weeks accounts for 21% of the state's 3.7-million-person workforce as of March.
Unemployment figures for March are due to be released Friday.
In the week ending May 2, claims in Massachusetts were highest in retail (7,060), health and social assistance (7,943), and food and accommodation (6,051), according to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
National numbers have trended like those in Massachusetts: lower in the past few weeks but still multitudes higher than ever seen before the pandemic hit.
In the week ending May 2, seasonally adjusted initial claims totaled 3,169,000, a decrease of 677,000 from the previous week's revised level. National numbers surpassed 6 million for consecutive weeks earlier in the pandemic, with more than 33 million nationally who've filed such claims since mid-March.
The country's gross domestic product has also taken a major hit. The first-quarter GDP, which largely doesn't yet account for pandemic-related closures, fell 4.8% in the first quarter from the previous period, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Second-quarter numbers will be released July 30.
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