US unemployment jumps by a record 3m as Covid-19 takes its toll

US unemployment claims increased by a record 3 million in the week ending 21 March, as the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic continued. The US Department for Labor (DOL) said the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims almost reached 3.3 million last week, up from 282,000 the previous week. It was the biggest level of seasonally adjusted initial claims in the history of the seasonally adjusted series, far outweighing the previous high of 695,000 in October 1982. In its report, the DOL said "nearly every state providing comments cited the Covid-19 virus imp...