26 Million Americans Seek Unemployment Benefits

The number of people forced out of work during the coronavirus lockdown continues to soar to historic highs. Another 4.4 million people claimed unemployment benefits last week around the country, the Labor Department said.

That brings the total of jobless claims in just five weeks to more than 26 million people. That's more than all the jobs added created in the past 10 years since the Great Recession.

Still the pace of job losses is slowing. About 5.2 million filed during the week that ended April 11 and last week...

More than 4.4 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, according to the Labor Department, a signal that the tidal wave of job losses continues to grow during the coronavirus pandemic.

It’s the fifth-straight week that job losses were measured in the millions. From March 15 to April 18, 26.5 million have likely been laid off or furloughed. Jobless figures on this scale haven’t been seen since the Great Depression. The amount of jobs lost in that brief span effectively erased all the jobs created following the 2008 financial...