Unemployment claims soar past 6.6 million

4/2/2020
Americans are losing their jobs at a record pace.

About 6.648 million people filed for unemployment on a seasonally adjusted rate for the week ended March 28, according to the latest weekly claims report from the Department of Labor. Expectations had projected roughly 3.7 million claims.

The latest report from the DOL doubles the previous week’s report, which was revised upward by 24,000 from 3.283 million to 3.307 million.

This week’s report marks the highest level of seasonally adjusted initial claims in the history of the seasonally adjusted series, the DOL said.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 21 was 3,029,000, an increase of 1,245,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the highest level for insured unemployment since July 6, 2013 when it was 3,079,000.

While the unemployment rate has stood around 3.5% for months, projections say that number could grow to as high as 15% or greater.

States with advance claims that increased by 100,000 or greater for the week ended March 28, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis include:

  • California – 692,394

  • Florida – 152, 687

  • Georgia – 120, 246

  • Michigan – 183, 080

  • New York – 286,044

  • Texas – 120, 171


 

 
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