According to a recent US Census Bureau survey, as of April 10, approximately 113,800 adults from households with annual incomes of at least $200,000 received unemployment benefits in the last week, a significant increase from 18,100 claimants a year ago.
A newly released US Census Bureau survey highlights the impact of widespread job losses in the finance and technology sectors on high-income American families. The Household Pulse Survey, conducted from March 29th to April 10th, reveals that about 113,800 adults from households with annual incomes of at least $200,000 have received unemployment benefits in the last week. This figure is up more than sixfold from 18,100 claimants a year ago.
Analysts suggest that this increase in claimants among high-income households likely reflects the surge in white-collar unemployment in recent months. As previously reported, Silicon Valley has experienced a growing wave of layoffs since the beginning of the year. In January, Alphabet announced plans to lay off 12,000 employees, while Microsoft initiated layoffs impacting tens of thousands. Amazon disclosed its largest-ever layoffs, totaling 27,000 workers, after announcing 18,000 job cuts in January and an additional 9,000 in March.
Following these tech industry layoffs, several investment banks, including Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of New York Mellon, have reportedly laid off more than 15,000 employees in recent months. This is the largest-scale job reduction since the 2008 financial crisis.
The US Census Bureau survey provides insight into the backgrounds of unemployment insurance claimants, information not available in the weekly benefits reports published by the US Department of Labor. The survey also indicates that high-income households are more likely to receive unemployment benefits. Since June of last year, over 250,000 adults from these households reported receiving unemployment benefits at some point, roughly double the number of claimants in the previous seven years. During this period, about 351,000 adults applied for unemployment insurance, with 72% receiving benefits. This rate is significantly higher than the 54% claim rate for the general US population and the 64% claim rate among college graduates.
Earlier this week, the Department of Labor released data on unemployment benefits claims, suggesting a continued slowdown in the labor market. The number of ongoing claims increased by 61,000 from the previous week, reaching 1.87 million, the highest level since July 2021. Meanwhile, initial claims for the week ending April 15th rose by 5,000 to 245,000, marking the second consecutive week of new highs since January 2021 and exceeding economists' expectations of 240,000 claims.
