LOOK AT THIS. Between March 15th and April 4th, 16.8 million workers applied for unemployment insurance. That is more than one in ten workers. In three weeks. And we are nowhere near the end of this. The labor market has been upended. 1/ 
Each and every one of the nearly 17 million workers who applied for unemployment insurance in the last three weeks is a person, a family, experiencing a life crisis. The scope of suffering is overwhelming. 2/
On the chart earlier in this thread, the last three observations look like they are in a vertical line because the x-axis covers 50+ years and the increase in the last three weeks is so extreme. This chart shows just the last year so you can see details. 3/
The 16.8 million unemployment insurance claims filed in the last three weeks is a mind-boggling 2500% increase over the pre-virus period. 4/
Unprecedented. Unheard of. Uncharted territory. These are phrases I use all the time now but they are deeply inadequate for describing what’s going on. 16.8 MILLION workers have already applied for unemployment insurance and we are still in the middle of this. 5/
This shows initial unemployment insurance claims *without* seasonal adjustments. Though the way DOL does their seasonal adjustments—multiplicatively—is odd at a time like this, seasonal adjustments aren’t what’s driving the otherworldliness of the last three weeks. 6/
We don't have breakdowns of UI numbers by race and ethnicity, but because black and brown workers are more concentrated in frontline service jobs that have been hit hard by social distancing, black and brown people are likely experiencing greater job loss. 7/
Further, the extraordinary UI claims of recent weeks don’t include people who aren’t eligible for regular UI but are still out of work due to the virus—people like independent contractors, those who had to quit work to care for a child whose school closed, and on and on. 8/
Some good news in all this? The CARES Act included a $250 billion expansion of UI, including an extension of coverage to many of those who fall through the gaping holes in our regular UI system. That system is still being set up, though. 9/ epi.org/press/epi-appl…
16.8 million have filed for UI—and it will get worse before it gets better. Based on GDP forecasts, we project that job losses could *easily* exceed 20 million, *with* the relief measures already in place. And even that estimate may get worse. 10/ epi.org/190100
Given the extraordinary upending of the labor market in a matter of weeks and the fact that things are still deteriorating, federal policymakers absolutely need to do more. Here’s what the next relief and recovery package should look like. 11/ epi.org/blog/a-phase-f…
And we cannot turn off federal government relief too early. It’s looking like even under the best case scenario—a rapid bounce-back in the second half of the year—the unemployment rate will still be close to 10% in the *fourth quarter* of this year. 12/
This is a disaster of our own making. Utterly failed leadership means we TWICE missed the chance to avert widespread job loss. It did not have to be like this, but now we must act to avoid greater damage. 13/ epi.org/189771
This chart shows initial unemployment insurance claims over the last 50+ years, now with recession-shading. The tidal wave of the last three weeks makes the worst recessions of the last half century look like little ripples. 14/
For a benchmark, it is as if the entire adult population of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin applied for unemployment insurance in the last three weeks. 15/
Workers aren’t just losing their jobs. Given that our system ties health insurance to work, millions of workers likely lost their employer-provided health insurance at the end of March, and millions more will follow this month and coming months. 16/ epi.org/189837
Aaaaand here are initial unemployment insurance claims on a log scale. Even the usual magic of logarithms is no match for what we are facing now. 17/
