Coronavirus: US unemployment surges by 6.6 million in one week

The unemployment rate in the US has surged to a new record high on Thursday, with the US Labor Department reporting that 6.6 million people filed unemployment claims just last week alone.

 The latest figures doubled the previous week's record of 3.3 million bringing the two-week total to nearly 10 million.

Efforts to curb the COVID-19 pandemic by implementing strict social distancing measures and shuttering businesses and restaurants have led to mass layoffs across the country prompting the unprecedented spike in US unemployment.

"Nearly every state providing comments cited the COVID-19 virus," the Labor Department statement said.

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims

Initial claims were 6,648,000 for the week ending 3/28 (+3,341,000).

Insured unemployment was 3,029,000 for the week ending 3/21 (+1,245,000).https://t.co/ys7Eg5LKAW

— US Labor Department (@USDOL) April 2, 2020