Table
State unemployment insurance initial claims predictions for week ending March 21 based on news reports, for 35 states and D.C.
| State | Projected claims |
|---|---|
| Alaska | 5,000 |
| Alabama | 11,000 |
| California | 639,000 |
| Colorado | 43,000 |
| Connecticut | 60,000 |
| District of Columbia | 14,000 |
| Delaware | 18,000 |
| Georgia | 20,000 |
| Hawaii | 12,000 |
| Iowa | 67,000 |
| Illinois | 121,000 |
| Indiana | 43,000 |
| Kansas | 12,000 |
| Kentucky | 17,000 |
| Louisiana | 35,000 |
| Massachusetts | 108,000 |
| Maryland | 31,000 |
| Maine | 12,000 |
| Minnesota | 108,000 |
| Michigan | 123,000 |
| Montana | 13,000 |
| North Carolina | 94,000 |
| New Hampshire | 27,000 |
| New Jersey | 85,000 |
| New Mexico | 14,000 |
| Ohio | 149,000 |
| Oklahoma | 11,000 |
| Oregon | 94,000 |
| Pennsylvania | 354,000 |
| Rhode Island | 42,000 |
| South Carolina | 17,000 |
| Tennessee | 5,000 |
| Texas | 116,000 |
| Virginia | 43,000 |
| Wisconsin | 67,000 |
| West Virginia | 5,000 |
| Total for 35 states and D.C. | 2,630,000 |
| Extrapolated total for all 50 states and D.C. | 3,394,000 |
Note: The 35 states plus D.C. listed above accounted for 77.5% of unemployment claims in the four weeks prior to the week ending March 21, 2020. Therefore, we assume that 2,630,000 represents 77.5% of the total claims for all 50 states and D.C. in the week ending March 21, 2020, so the total estimated claims (rounded to the nearest thousand) are 2,630,000/0.775 ≈ 3,394,000.
Sources: Sources for each state’s projected claims can be found in column C of this spreadsheet.
Previous chart: « Role of minimum wage decline and erosion of unions on wage inequality , 1979–2017
Next chart: Estimated jobs lost due to coronavirus by summer 2020, by state »