As new unemployment claims rise across the country, the nation saw another 742,000 Americans file for first-time unemployment benefits last week.
The Department of Labor released its weekly report on new jobless claims Thursday. By state, Louisiana added by far the greatest number of new claims last week, with these rising by nearly 33,000 on an unadjusted basis to about 42,700. States including Massachusetts, Texas and Virginia each also saw notable increases. Illinois, on the other hand, saw new claims drop by more than 20,000, and each of Florida, New Jersey, and Washington state also posted notable declines in new claims.
California and Hawaii are now tied with the worst insured unemployment rates by state at 8.3%. This marks the first time that the Aloha state hasn’t solely led the U.S. since August 8. New Mexico remained at third on the list with an insured unemployment rate of 8%, while Nevada and Georgia rounded out the top five hardest hit states wit unemployment rates of 7.6% and 6.5%, respectively. All of the top regions are suffering from notably higher insured unemployment rates relative to the national average of 4.6% for the same week. Hawaii also notched the highest unemployment rate for the month of October at 15.1%, followed by Nevada at 12.6%. The report also showed Hawaii had been hardest hit since September 2019, suffering the largest unemployment rate increases since then, rising more than 12 percentage points.
By Kristofel Abella
Ka Lā News staff writer
