Labor Department: 6.6 Million Jobless Claims Last Week, Nearly 10 Million in Two Weeks | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's note: This informational nugget was sent to me by Ben Shapiro, who represents the Daily Wire, and since this is one of the most topical news events, it should be published on BCN.

The author of this post is James Barrett.

    The Department of Labor released its weekly jobs numbers Thursday and announced "the highest level" of jobless claims in the history of the country. After 3.3 million people claimed unemployment two weeks ago, which was by far the largest number ever for the country, another 6.6 million filed for new unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total to nearly 10 million in just two weeks. The previous high was 695,000 in a week back in 1982.

    "In the week ending March 28, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 6,648,000, an increase of 3,341,000 from the previous week's revised level," the Labor Department reported Thursday. "This marks the highest level of seasonally adjusted initial claims in the history of the seasonally adjusted series."

    "The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 21 was 3,029,000, an increase of 1,245,000 from the previous week's revised level," the news release states. "This is the highest level for insured unemployment since July 6, 2013 when it was 3,079,000."

    "The COVID-19 virus continues to impact the number of initial claims," reads the release's "COVID-19 Impact" summary. "Nearly every state providing comments cited the COVID-19 virus. States continued to identify increases related to the services industries broadly, again led by accommodation and food services. However, state comments indicated a wider impact across industries. Many states continued to cite the health care and social assistance, and manufacturing industries, while an increasing number of states identified the retail and wholesale trade and construction industries."

    The New York Times cites Michelle Meyer, chief U.S. economist for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, who put the devastating numbers in perspective. "What usually takes months or quarters to happen in a recession is happening in a matter of weeks," she said.

    "A month ago, most forecasters still thought the United States could avoid a recession," the Times reports. "Today, with the pandemic shuttering businesses and forcing vast layoffs, many economists are expecting a decline in gross domestic product that rivals the worst periods of the Great Depression."

    Below is the full text of the Labor Department's news release (formatting adjusted):