courtneyk/iStock(WASHINGTON) — More than 3.1 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance last week as the fallout from the coronavirus crisis continues, the Department of Labor said Thursday.
This brings the total number of people who have lost their jobs and filed unemployment claims since the pandemic began to at least 33 million.
The pandemic has forced nonessential businesses across the country to close — hitting the retail, hospitality and food service industries especially hard.
As states have been inundated with skyrocketing numbers of new jobless claims, some seem to be close to depleting their unemployment trusts. This week, nine states requested to borrow a total of $38 billion from the Federal Unemployment Account in the coming months to help mitigate economic fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic.
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