US jobless claims total 3.8m last week amid COVID-19 shutdowns

WASHINGTON - The number of initial jobless claims in the United States totaled 3.8 million last week as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to sweep the nation, bringing the six-week total to 30 million, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Thursday.

In the week ending April 25, the number of Americans filing for US unemployment benefits decreased by 603,000 from the last week to 3,839,000.

The newly released data came one day after the Commerce Department reported that US real gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter contracted at an annual rate of 4.8 percent amid the COVID-19 impact, the biggest quarterly decline since the 2008 financial crisis.

As COVID-19 shutdowns rippled through the workforce, initial jobless claims spiked by 3 million to reach a record 3.3 million in the week ending March 21, surged by 3.34 million to reach 6.87 million in the week ending March 28, totaled 6.62 million in the week ending April 4, fell to 5.2 million in the week ending April 11, and then dropped to 4.4 million in the week ending April 18.

The new BLS report also showed that the four-week moving average, a method to iron out data volatility, decreased by 757,000 to reach 5 million.

COVID-19 "continues to impact the number of initial claims and insured unemployment," the bureau noted.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 12.4 percent for the week ending April 18, an increase of 1.5 percentage points from the previous week's unrevised rate, the report showed.

According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics' semiannual Global Economic Prospects outlook released earlier this month, the US output is expected to shrink by 8.0 percent in 2020, and the unemployment rate will probably peak around 20 percent in the early summer.