Weekly Unemployment Claims Again Top 1M, Effects Hit Housing Market

About 1.3 million new unemployment claims were made in the week ending July 4, the Labor Department said Thursday, marking the 17th consecutive week with more than 1 million filings. 

What Happened: The latest numbers reflect a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week — hardly anything to give policymakers a reason to celebrate.

Advanced unadjusted numbers for individuals claiming unemployment benefits in state programs totaled 17,355,176, an 5.1% increase from the previous week.

As expected, Texas saw the largest number of new claims — 20,506 — for the week ending July 4, showing the effects as the state began entering a lockdown as COVID-19 cases increased.

Florida, the state with the most new cases nationally, interestingly saw the second-largest decrease in unemployment claims from the previous week.

Why It’s Important: There's still no news on government action to divert the economy from impending fiscal cliffs.

For the week ending June 27, 48 states reported 14,282,999 individuals claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits. Forty-fou states reported 936,431 individuals claiming Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

It is expected that government support will need to be continued to keep many families above water financially. The PPP program is still keeping many on payrolls at their companies, so pulling this benefit would increase these numbers.

Nationwide, we are starting to see the continued effects of double-digit unemployment rates.

Apartment List has reported that 32% of Americans did not make a full on-time housing payment during June, an economic problem that has been increasing over the past few months.

What’s Next: Congress could reveal a new stimulus package next week when they return from recess. Look for this package to include any assistance to workers that have been laid off or possibly could be laid off in coming weeks.