NYS Department of Labor unemployment claim - why was unemployment so high 1982 compared to today's rates?
I'm doing research for a college economics paper about unemployment trends and I keep seeing references to 1982 having really high unemployment rates. My professor mentioned that New York State hit over 9% that year. I'm trying to understand what caused those numbers to spike so dramatically compared to what we see now. Was it different policies at the NYS Department of Labor? Different eligibility requirements? I'm currently on unemployment myself (lost my retail job last month) and the process seems pretty streamlined through my.ny.gov, so I'm wondering if the system was just less efficient back then or if there were actual economic factors that made more people need benefits. Anyone know the historical context behind those 1982 numbers?
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Aisha Hussain
The 1982 recession was brutal - it wasn't really about NYS Department of Labor policies being different, it was about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates to combat inflation. This caused massive layoffs across manufacturing, construction, and other industries. New York's unemployment system was actually less automated then - people had to file claims in person or by mail, and the job search requirements were less structured than today's online system.
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Mateo Rodriguez
•That makes sense about the interest rates. So the high unemployment was more about economic policy than the actual unemployment system being broken?
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GalacticGladiator
omg i remember my dad talking about this!! he got laid off from his factory job in Buffalo in 1982 and said the unemployment lines were INSANE. like people waiting for hours just to file their weekly claims. nowadays you just log into your account and click a few buttons
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Ethan Brown
•Yeah the technology difference is huge. Back then if you had questions about your claim status you literally had to go to the office or try calling busy phone lines all day.
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Yuki Yamamoto
For your research, you should look at the Volcker Shock - that's what economists call the Fed's aggressive interest rate hikes in the early 1980s. Unemployment in NYS peaked around 9.5% in 1982-1983. The manufacturing sector was hit particularly hard, which was a bigger part of New York's economy back then. The NYS Department of Labor had to process claims for hundreds of thousands more people than usual, but with manual systems and limited staff.
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Mateo Rodriguez
•Perfect, I'll research the Volcker Shock specifically. Do you know if the benefit amounts were different back then too?
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Yuki Yamamoto
•Yes, benefit calculations were similar but the maximum weekly benefit was much lower in real dollars. I think it was around $125/week maximum in 1982, which would be like $400 in today's money.
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Carmen Ruiz
ugh dealing with unemployment bureaucracy is bad enough NOW, can't imagine what it was like in 1982 without computers. I've been trying to get through to someone at NYS Department of Labor for weeks about my adjudication status and the phone system is still a nightmare
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Andre Lefebvre
•If you're having trouble reaching NYS Department of Labor by phone, I found this service called Claimyr that actually got me through to an agent. You can check it out at claimyr.com - they have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Way better than sitting on hold for hours.
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Carmen Ruiz
•Thanks! I'll definitely check that out. This adjudication has been pending for 3 weeks now.
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Zoe Dimitriou
honestly the unemployment system has always been designed to discourage people from using it, whether that's 1982 or 2025. they just make it slightly less obvious now with the online portals
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