Jobless claims spike to 6.6 MILLION in a week!
A record shattering 6.6 million people filed for unemployment benefits in the last week, doubling the record of 3.3 million from last week as more people are forced to stay at home in attempts at stopping the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Efforts to contain the outbreak are causing more and more companies to close and more and more people to file for unemployment. In just two weeks, we have seen a total of nearly 10 million jobless claims filed.
Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia issued the following statement regarding Unemployment Insurance claims:
“Similar to last week’s unemployment claims numbers, today’s report reflects the sacrifices American workers are making for their families, neighbors, and country in order to ‘slow the spread.’ The Administration continues to act quickly to address this impact on American workers. That includes a rule the Labor Department adopted yesterday to implement the paid leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and the Department’s work with the States to make available the enhanced unemployment benefits provided in the CARES Act, which the President signed last week. That legislation also contains significant incentives for businesses to retain workers and continue paying them, which will put businesses and workers in a better position to resume work and re-boot the economy once the virus is contained.”
Every state reported an increase in claims last week. The largest number of filings came in Pennsylvania (362,012), Ohio (189,263) and Massachusetts (141,003). The smallest gains were in South Dakota (1,571), West Virginia (2,671) and Vermont (3,125). and Wyoming (3,136).
Read the report here
