by Robert Hughes
The American Institute for Economic Research
Initial claims for unemployment insurance totaled 1.88 million for the week ending May 30, marking the eleventh consecutive week of massive layoffs (see chart). However, claims have slowed for the ninth straight week after registering 6.87 million for the week ending March 28.
The current 11-week total of 42.65 million initial claims is almost 5 times the total 8.7 million job losses that occurred over 25 months versus during the Great Recession (see chart). The current total is also two and three-quarters times the 15.4 million peak number of unemployed people for the Great Recession, as measured in the household survey portion of the monthly Employment Situation report (see chart).