WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the two months since the coronavirus took hold in the US has swelled to nearly 39 million, the Government reported yesterday, even as states from coast to coast gradually reopen their economies and let people go back to work.
More than 2.4 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week in the latest wave of layoffs from the business shutdowns that have brought the economy to its knees, the Labour Department said.
And the continuing rise shows that even though all states have begun reopening over the past three weeks, employment has yet to snap back and the outbreak is still damaging businesses and destroying jobs.
Digital publishers Vice, Quartz and BuzzFeed, magazine giant Conde Nast and the owner of The Economist magazine announced job cuts last week.
An additional 1.2 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week under a federal programme that makes self-employed, contractor and gig workers eligible for the first time.
