The number of workers claiming new unemployment benefits jumped to 6.6 million last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, as the economic shutdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus spurred layoffs on an unprecedented scale.
Economists projected that between 2.5 million to 7.5 million jobs would be lost last week.
Over 15 million people have lost their job in the last three weeks, the jobless claims numbers show. About 6.8 million jobs were lost the week ending March 28, the Labor Department said Thursday, revising the number up from the 6.6 million figure previously reported. For the preceding week, 2.6 million requested unemployment benefits.
In comparison, job losses totaled 8.7 million during the Great Recession, according to Kevin Rinz, economist in the Center for Administrative Records Research and Applications at the U.S. Census Bureau.
Forecasters expect that up to 20 million workers could file for unemployment benefits for the entire month of April.
The airline industry has been badly hit by the coronavirus. Airlines are projected to lose $252 billion in revenue because of flight cancellations or people choosing not to fly. Nearly 200,000 domestic flights have been canceled since the crisis began. The service industry, too, has been particularly hard hit, with restaurant dining being curtailed almost entirely in some cities. In California, over 800,000 layoffs occurred in the service industry for the week ending March 28. A number of states also showed workers in manufacturing applying for unemployment benefits.
