The number of initial unemployment claims filed in Wisconsin last week more than doubled from the previous week when the state set a record with 51,031 initial claims.
A total of 110,724 claims were filed in Wisconsin last week, the 17
th most of any state, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor.
California had the most claims with 878,727 followed by Pennsylvania at 405,880, New York at 366,403, Michigan at 311,086 and Texas at 275,597.
The U.S. saw seasonally-adjusted claims of 6.6 million last week. Nearly 10 million claims have been filed in the country during the last two weeks. Before the coronavirus outbreak hit the economy, the country was averaging around 232,000 claims per week.
Wisconsin has received 161,755 claims in the last two weeks, also the 17
th most in the country.
For comparison, that total exceeds all but three six-week periods in available data going back to 1987. Those periods occurred around the start of 2009 and again in 2010.
The worst six-week period in state history saw 166,554 initial claims during a stretch covering late 2008 and early 2009.
Around 34,000 initial claims were filed in the six weeks prior to the coronavirus hitting the economy.
Wisconsin has continued to see an elevated level of initial unemployment claims this week. More than 70,800 claims were filed from Sunday to Wednesday, according to daily count data from the Department of Workforce Development. Roughly 70,200 claims were filed during the same period last week.
The daily counts are different from the official initial claim data. DWD processes and verifies claims before submitting them to the Department of Labor.
While the two sets of data differ, they both point to a dramatic increase in unemployment. Economists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy estimate the unemployment rate in the state could be around 11.6% based on data available through March 31.
