NYS Department of Labor unemployment rate trends - what was unemployment when biden took office?
I'm doing some research on unemployment trends and trying to figure out what the unemployment rate was when Biden took office in January 2021. I know it was still pretty high from the pandemic but can't find the exact NYS numbers. Does anyone know where to find historical unemployment data for New York State? I'm particularly interested in how it affected unemployment claims and the NYS Department of Labor workload during that transition period.
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Mei-Ling Chen
The national unemployment rate was around 6.3% when Biden took office in January 2021, but New York's rate was actually higher - I think it was around 8.2% at that time. You can find historical data on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website or the NYS Department of Labor's statistics page. The pandemic really hit New York hard in 2020.
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DeShawn Washington
•Thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for. I'll check the NYS Department of Labor site for the state-specific numbers.
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Sofía Rodríguez
yeah it was crazy high back then, i remember filing for unemployment in early 2021 and the NYS Department of Labor website was constantly crashing from all the people trying to file claims
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Aiden O'Connor
•Same here! I couldn't get through on the phone for weeks. The system was completely overwhelmed with new unemployment claims.
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Zoe Papadopoulos
If you're having trouble reaching the NYS Department of Labor for current claim issues, I had luck using Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Really helped when I needed to check on my adjudication status last month.
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Jamal Brown
•Interesting, never heard of that service. The phone lines are still pretty busy even now.
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Fatima Al-Rashid
Just to add some context - that period was when we still had all the pandemic unemployment programs like PUA and PEUC running alongside regular UI benefits. The NYS Department of Labor was managing multiple different benefit types which made everything more complicated. Now it's back to mostly just regular unemployment insurance.
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DeShawn Washington
•Good point about the different programs. That definitely explains why the system was so overwhelmed during that time period.
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