4.4 million Americans were unemployed during the week ended April 18, according to labor department figures released Thursday, April 23. In five weeks of confinement, registrations exceed 26.4 million, a figure that has no historical equivalent.
The drop is 800,000 compared to the previous week. The figures remain very high, with the continued redundancies, the reduction of IT problems which had prevented registrations during the first weeks of the crisis and the rise of the self-employed, eligible for the first time under compensation under the federal economic support plan.
The level of demand has declined in New York and California, which have been particularly affected in recent weeks, but has soared in Florida, which seemed partially spared from the crisis, going from 180,000 to more than 500,000. The rate of unemployed people benefiting an allowance is now 11% of the working population. Total unemployment for April will be known in early May and is expected to reach 20%.
