Biden Takes Victory Lap Over Low Unemployment Claims
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On Thursday morning, President Joe Biden took a victory lap over a pandemic-low record of unemployment claims.
In a statement released by the White House, Biden said:
Today we learned that, for the fifth consecutive week, initial unemployment claims are down. The number of people newly filing for unemployment has now fallen to the lowest level since the pandemic started — dropping from an average of 833,000 Americans in the week before I took office to fewer than 285,000 Americans today, for a decline of nearly 70 percent.
As COVID-19 cases and unemployment claims continue to decline — and as jobs and wages continue to rise — it is clear that America is in the midst of an historic economic recovery, unique across the world. We still have much left to do to finish that recovery and build back better, but today’s news is further evidence that we are making strong and steady progress.
The drop-off in unemployment claims last week was from 283,000 to 269,000 – “the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000,” according to the Department of Labor.
The number of people collecting unemployment last week just over 2.1 million – a weekly decrease of 134,000 and “the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 14, 2020 when it was 1,770,000,” according to the Labor Department.
The states and territories that have the highest percentage of the labor force collecting unemployment are Puerto Rico, California, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, the Virgin Islands, Alaska, District of Columbia, Nevada and Pennsylvania, according to the Department of Labor.
