Another 6.6 Million People File Unemployment Claims This Week

The news is horrific.  The Dept. of Labor release today shows another whopping 6.6 million people filed for unemployment compensation last week.  That brings the total over the past three weeks to over sixteen million.

With 16 million people filing unemployment claims, the actual rate of unemployment is likely well into double digits [13% to 16%, possibly higher].  The COVID-19 shut down has completely collapsed major segments of the U.S. economy.

WASHINGTON – […] For the week ending March 21, 3.3 million people filed new unemployment claims, easily shattering the previous record set in 1982 of 695,000. Last week, that astounding figure doubled, as 6.6 million people filed claims for the week ending March 28 — a figure that was revised upward to 6.9 million in the new release.

Thursday’s figure was at the high end of analyst estimates, which ranged from 4.5 million to 7 million. (more)