by Bruce Walker
More than 29,209 Minnesota workers joined the ranks of the unemployed in the week ending June 6, bringing the total number of state residents filing unemployment claims to 439,782 since government restrictions were put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Week-over-week, Minnesota witnessed an increase of nearly 7,555 new claims from the prior week, during which 21,654 new claims were reported.
Nationally, new unemployment claims decreased 355,000 last week from the previous week’s revised level to 1,542,000, the 10th week in a row the rate of new claims fell from the previous week’s numbers.
More than 43 million U.S. workers have filed unemployment claims since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, though millions have returned to work as restrictions have eased.
Florida tops the list of states with the biggest decrease in week-over-week unemployment, a drop of 97,186. Next on the list is Texas and Georgia, which, respectively, witnessed decreases of 16,941 claims and 14,452 claims.
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Bruce Walker is a regional editor at The Center Square. He previously worked as editor at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s MichiganScience magazine and The Heartland Institute’s InfoTech & Telecom News.
