A total of 6.6m Americans filed for first-time unemployment claims in a surge for the third consecutive week after the coronavirus pandemic forced the closure of non-essential businesses and sent shockwaves through the US labour market.
Initial jobless claims remained elevated in the week ended April 4, but were lower than the 6.87m recorded the previous week, the labour department said on Thursday. However, they eclipsed economists expectations for 5.5m.
The latest figures take the cumulative total since the March lockdowns began to almost 17m — a number economists said could put the unemployment rate at 14 per cent, above the peak in the last financial crisis.
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