Great point and essential as the news of the Senate taking a three day siesta sans FPUC extension becomes reality.
When the pandemic started, unemployment claims skyrocketed to numbers never seen before.
Others have focused on the total number of claims being filed. What may be more useful is comparing this increase in claims to what occurred when there was no pandemic — aka last year — and how the claims data has varied over time.
So, what makes sense, then, is a ratio of new claims being filed for the equivalent week last year when there was no pandemic. This ratio would indicate both how these new claims compare to when there was no pandemic AND how the unemployment picture is changing over time.
Unfortunately, this picture is unsettling to say the least.
Note: Here is the data for this chart:
w/e 2020 Week Ratio 03/14/20 11 1.02 03/21/20 12 13.29 03/28/20 13 20.51 04/04/20 14 19.95 04/11/20 15 14.21 04/18/20 16 12.12 04/25/20 17 10.64 05/02/20 18 9.47…View original post 869 more words
