A Breathtaking 3 Million People Filed For Unemployment Last Week As Coronavirus Shutdowns Hit

The all-time record for new jobless claims in a single week was set in 1982, with 695,000 new claims. Last week, as coronavirus shuttered many U.S. businesses, 3.28 million people filed for unemployment insurance.
A Breathtaking 3 Million People Filed For Unemployment Last Week As Coronavirus Shutdowns Hit
Credit: Creative Commons
By Laura Clawson — March 26, 2020

The all-time record for new jobless claims in a single week was set in 1982, with 695,000 new claims. Last week, as coronavirus shuttered many U.S. businesses, 3.28 million people filed for unemployment insurance.

That’s not just breaking a record, it’s shattering it. Reducing it to dust.

The actual number of newly unemployed people is sure to be much worse, former Obama Labor Department official Chris Lu tweeted, for reasons including that gig workers don’t get unemployment insurance and “Some state UI systems have crashed.”

And this isn’t over. More things closed this week than last week, which means that next week’s jobless claims report is likely to be terrible all over again.

Posted with permission from Daily Kos.

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