As virus shutdowns continue to weigh on the american economy, almost 3 million Americans are seeking unemployment benefits.
The filings reached the total number of new unemployment claims since the middle of March to 36 million.
This sums to nearly a quarter of the complete American workforce. However, the figures have been falling compare to previous weeks but remain enormous by historic standards, eclipsing the past record of 700,000.
UK managing director Richard Flynn said “Today’s unemployment claims continue their epic ascent on a cumulative weekly basis; not since the Great Depression has the US job market been in such a sorry state”.
“The economic recovery is likely to be slower than initially hoped” warned America’s central bank.
In April, companies cut over 20 million jobs, which is sending the unemployment ratio to 14.7% and erasing closely a decade of job gains. While the losses have dropped hardest on low-income households and minority, they have involved every part of the economy.
However, economists said they consider hiring will begin to pick up as more states ease restraints on americans economy activity.
“The increase in the number of people receiving unemployment benefits in the week ended 9 May was relatively modest”, said Paul Ashworth, chief americans economist at Capital Economics.
He added “With most states only beginning to ease their lockdowns over the last 10 days, we expect a much bigger swing in hiring versus firing over the next couple of weeks, which suggests the unemployment rate will begin to drop back”.
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