New jobless claims soar to record 6.6 million as pandemic ripples through the economy
Workers claiming new unemployment benefits swelled to a record 6.6 million last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic forced businesses across the country to shut down.
The historic jobless number, about double what forecasters expected, exceeds the previous record, by far, set last week of 3.2 million requesting unemployment benefits.
The past two weeks have been record-breakers in terms of job losses as the virus has infected over 215,000 Americans, according to Johns Hopkins University. The previous record high for weekly jobless claims was 695,000 in...