US workers file unprecedented 6.6M unemployment claims

U.S. workers filed 6,648,000 unemployment claims the week ending March 28, an increase of 3,341,000 over the previous week’s revised level — "the highest level of seasonally adjusted initial claims in the history of the seasonally adjusted series," according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The unemployment claims are largely attributed to companies closing or furloughing workers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Combined with the previous week’s level, nearly 10 million U.S. workers have filed for unemployment in the past few recorded weeks. Due to data lag, however, the numbers are likely to be even higher as states continue to process claims, Axios reported. "This is more than a 3,000% increase in three weeks. This kind of upending of the labor market in such a short time is unheard of," Heidi Shierholz, senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), noted in an EPI statement. Unemployment numbers and predictions have taken a stark turn in the past month as the spread of COVID-19 has prompted immediate action from governments and employers nationwide. The unemployment rate could jump as high as 30% in Q2 2020, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis noted in analysis published March 24 meaning some 52.81 million people would be unemployed by the end of Q2.