Last week there were over three million jobless claims. This week there was more than twice that.
CNBC:
The torrent of Americans filing for unemployment insurance skyrocketed last week as more than 6.6 million new claims were filed, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That brings to 10 million the total Americans who filed over the past two weeks.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected 3.1 million for last week, one week after 3.3 million filings in the first wave of what has been a record-shattering swelling of the jobless ranks. The previous week’s total was revised higher by 24,000.
Stock market futures gave up most of their previous gains in the morning but still pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street.
These numbers are staggering but not surprising considering most of the American economy has been ordered closed by the government. It’s an unprecedented situation.
The mammoth US unemployment claims in their historical context. pic.twitter.com/UNDwhBMpZt
— Ben Riley-Smith (@benrileysmith) April 2, 2020
We must also consider the fact that many people who tried to file for unemployment could not do so because state websites broke from the traffic load hitting them. So these numbers don’t even reflect the real volume of unemployment that’s out there. There’s all sorts of talk on social media about these problems.
1/ The Texas Workforce Commission received 1.5 million calls in a 24-hour period last week.
Tens of thousands of Texans are without work and need to file unemployment claims.
But the phone lines are jammed. And the website servers are overloaded. https://t.co/xMCGMflhWH
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) April 2, 2020
It’s fucking nonsense that I’m forced to be unemployed and can’t file for unemployment because the people the government employs aren’t competent enough to make a website that FUCKING WORKS.
— Marco Cirillo (@Marco_NYG) March 31, 2020
We don't know the real numbers — applicants are not getting through on many states' employment websites.https://t.co/tWxfKKBQOk
— Donna Imam (@donnaimamTX) April 2, 2020
The Virginia unemployment website is fucking useless.
— Elektra Thee Stallion (@dizuschrist) April 2, 2020
I hope whoever designed Florida’s unemployment website was fired and forced to file for unemployment so that they could realize what a shitty job they did
— Griffin ♡ (@griffnofun) April 2, 2020
And I hate to say it, but it is only going to get worse from here.
