For the week ending March 28th, 2020, the number of Americans filing for unemployment has skyrocketed to a record-breaking 6.6 million, according to a report by the Labor Department. This has sent a recently booming labor market into free fall.
The previous record was 3.3 million claims filed the week of March 21st, 2020, as the U.S. shut down parts of the economy in an effort to contain the coronavirus. The record-setting surge in jobless-insurance claims equated to about 6% of the U.S. labor force. This is up from 0.3% at the end of February 2020. States indicate that the claims are from an array of industries including, restaurants, retail, trade, and construction.
