Record 3.28 Million File for U.S. Jobless Benefits

A record 3.28 million workers applied for unemployment benefits last week as the new coronavirus hit the U.S. economy, marking the end of a decadelong job expansion.

The number of Americans filing for claims was nearly five times the previous record high. Workers seeking jobless benefits, a proxy for layoffs, increased by 3 million for the week ended March 21, from the prior week.

States reporting large increases included Pennsylvania, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Ohio. Many U.S. businesses have announced layoffs and several state and local authorities ordered nonessential businesses to close in response to the coronavirus pandemic, bringing the great American job machine to a halt.

Until March, U.S. employers added jobs for a record 113 straight months, causing payrolls to grow by 22 million. In the process, millions of people—including low-wage hourly laborers, disabled people, minorities, former inmates and others—found work. The unemployment rate, which was 3.5% in February, had been at levels not seen since the 1960s. Wages started to accelerate in the last two years after lagging during the early stages of the expansion that followed the 2007-09 recession.

The strong labor market kept the U.S. economy humming for a decade—straight through a European debt crisis, Japan’s tsunami, a Chinese economic slowdown, a domestic manufacturing slump, volatile energy prices and a global trade war.

And then, in a matter of days, it stopped.

Millions of Americans, already fearful the new coronavirus could infect them or their families, now have two new worries: When will the job machine start again? And can they hold out until it does?