10 million unemployment claims in the past 2 weeks10 million unemployment claims in the past 2 weeks
[Finance.Yahoo] The COVID-19 pandemic rages on, and the damage being done to the U.S. economy is only getting worse.
The U.S. Labor Department released fresh data on Thursday morning that showed the effect of the novel coronavirus on employment in the U.S. The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits spiked to a record-breaking 6.648 million for the week ending March 28. Consensus expectations were for 3.76 million claims. The prior week’s figure was revised higher to 3.307 million claims from 3.283 million. Prior to the week ending March 21, the previous record was 695,000 claims filed the week ended October 2, 1982.
"The deterioration of the labor market in the past two weeks almost defies belief," Nick Bunker, Indeed Hiring Lab's director of economic research, wrote in an email Thursday. "Since March 14, approximately 3.8% of the working age population has filed for unemployment. For context, during the Great Recession, the share of the population dropped 4.6 percentage points from December 2007 to December 2009. That took two years. The labor market is in a historic freefall."
Can't support an unemployed nation for many more weeks. If you're healthy, put on your mask and gloves and go back to work. 
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