Unemployment claims doubled in some Midwest states

(The Center Square) – Michigan had the second-biggest increase in the nation in unemployment claims last week, WalletHub reported Thursday.

WalletHub compared states’ unemployment claims across milestone weeks to analyze increases in unemployment. Nationally, new unemployment claims increased 5% week-over-week June 26, WalletHub reported. About 6.1 million Americans are unemployed. Red states, which had an average rank of 25, tended to have higher unemployment increases compared with blue states, which had an average rank of 26.

The report said that Michigan’s claims last week were 123.15% higher than those of the prior week, 76.97% higher than those of the same week pre-pandemic, and 6.72% higher than those of the same week of 2022. With 245 claims per 100,000 people in the labor force, the Mitten State had the fifth most claims per 100,000 people in the labor force.

Iowa had the 12^th biggest increase in unemployment claims since last week, with the 21^st highest claims per 100,000 people in the labor force, the report said. Its unemployment claims last week were 38.03% more compared with the prior week, 4.10% less than the same week pre-pandemic and 42.58% more than the same week of 2022. Per 100,000 people in the labor force, 117 filed an initial unemployment claim last week.

Minnesota and Wisconsin were among the 18 states, along with the District of Columbia, that had unemployment claims last week that weren’t higher than those of the prior week. However, Minnesota joined Michigan and 21 other states that had unemployment claims last week that were higher than in the same week of 2019, before the pandemic.

Minnesota had both the 15^th biggest increase in unemployment claims, which was a decrease of 3.24%, and the 15^th highest number of claims per 100,000 people in the labor force: 158. The state had 64.45% more claims last week compared with the same week pre-pandemic and 82.53% more claims compared with the same week of 2022. Minnesota had the fifth biggest increase in the number of unemployment insurance initial claims compared with the same week of 2022.

Wisconsin, with the 40^th biggest past-week increase in unemployment claims, had the 20^th highest number of claims per capita in the labor force: 122. The state’s unemployment claims were down 11.40% last week compared with the prior week, 12.15% compared with the same week pre-pandemic and 4% compared with the same week of 2022.

WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez said that the Federal Reserve rate hikes have started slowing inflation, which will cause unemployment to rise.

“The hikes, coupled with the chances of a recession in the next 12 months at over 70 percent, are two leading causes of why we will see record-low unemployment come to an end sooner rather than later,” she said.