Around 5 million more people filed first-time unemployment claims last week as the coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate the job market in every sector of the economy.
The staggering weekly number comes as President Donald Trump weighs plans to pull back on the social distancing measures that have shuttered businesses across the country and to reopen parts of the economy as soon as May 1.
State-mandated lockdowns have choked vast parts of the once-booming economy, kicking a total of 22 million people out of work and launching the nation into the worst crisis since the Great Depression.
Still, even that number may not tell the whole story, as state unemployment offices continue to struggle to process the unprecedented number of people rushing to file claims………..
On that Friday, the federal government is scheduled to release unemployment data for April, and economists agree that it is likely to be pretty grim, with job losses totaling at least 20 million.