I’ve always wondered.
Is that 400,000+ number per month?
Is that how many people there are losing their jobs?
Since the prefix is "initial", these are newly unemployed, the aggregate of all 57 states. The total, initial and existing is in the millions.
That means 400k more people lost their jobs last week and filed for unemployment. The stat doesn't include people already unemployed AND people who have dropped off of unemployment because the benefit ran out.
Also, it doesn't include underemployed people.
The 400k number is new people filing for unemployment benefits. The government figures that 375k is the number of filings in a healthy economy. Anything above 375k is bad and below that is good. I have no idea why 375k picked, that number seems a little high to me. But for the 375k figure to actually be good or neutral 375k hirings would also have to occur each week.
Each week you have to reapply for unemployment benefits. Some drop off as they either find work or their benefits run out. If we lost 400k + jobs per week, we would be totally unemployed by the end of the year. Since the number goes up, we are still hemorrhaging jobs.............
Per week, not month.