Millions more Americans likely filed claims for unemployment benefits last week, but the tide appears to be slowing, offering cautious hope of a peak in job losses from business closures and disruptions because of the novel coronavirus.
FILE PHOTO: People who lost their jobs wait in line to file for unemployment following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease , at an Arkansas Workforce Center in Fort Smith, Arkansas, U.S. April 6, 2020. REUTERS/Nick Oxford
But the numbers are still at high levels unimaginable just months ago. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits likely totaled a seasonally adjusted 3.50 million for the week ended April 25, according to a Reuters survey of economists. That would be down from 4.427 million in the prior week and mark the fourth straight weekly decrease in applications.
With initial claims for jobless benefits starting to stabilize, attention is shifting to the number of people remaining on unemployment rolls to get a better sense of the depth of the labor market downturn. However, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles the closely watched monthly employment report, a person is defined as unemployed if they do not have a job and have actively looked for work in the past four weeks, and currently are available for work.
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