And this n ump er will keep climbing as more states go to stay home orders…..
An unprecedented 6.6 million people filed unemployment claims in the last week of March, meaning 10 million people have now filed for jobless claims since the coronavirus pandemic ripped through the country, shattering the economy.
A total of 6,648,000 people filed initial unemployment claims for the week ending March 28, more than double the the roughly 3.3 million seasonally adjusted initial claims the previous week. Until that point, the highest level on record was 695,000 in October of 1982.
The shocking figures underscore the breadth of the pain to the economy caused by the coronavirus outbreak, which has shuttered thousands of businesses in the country as people practice social distancing guidelines.
Bars, restaurants, gyms, barbershops, massage parlors and other businesses deemed nonessential have been closed in many states.
Macy’s and other department stores closed to customers have furloughed thousands of employees, while movie theater chains and major sports leagues and arenas are all closed with no real timetable for when large groups will be able to congregate again.
To put the figures in some perspective, it took six months to add 10 million people to the unemployment rolls during the Great Recession following the financial crisis in 2008-2009. That has now happened in two weeks with coronavirus.
“The job loss we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Heidi Shierholz, an expert at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute and former chief economist to Obama administration Labor Secretary Tom Perez.
“Based on new GDP forecasts, we project that nearly 20 million workers will be laid off or furloughed by July, with losses in every state,” she said….
Schumer’s comments come after more than 6.6 million people filed initial unemployment claims during the last week of March. That comes on top of the roughly 3.3 million initial claims filed in the previous week, underscoring how the spread of the virus has decimated the U.S. economy.
“Today’s jobless report shows the grim reality of the coronavirus’s crippling effect on our economy and working families,” Schumer said in a statement. …
The scariest line in the new CBO’s economic forecast to account for the pandemic:
“CBO expected the effects of job losses and business closures to be felt for some time; the unemployment rate underlying the cost estimate was 9 percent at the end of 2021.”…