26th March, 2020
Unemployment claims in the U.S. shot to a record of more than 3 million last week as strict measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic ground the country to a sudden halt.
The virus unleashed a wave of layoffs that brought an end to the longest employment boom in U.S. history.
Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose to 3.28 million in the latest week from a revised 282,000 the previous week.
U.S. Labor Department said the figure eclipsed the previous record of 695,000 set in 1982.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims would rise to 1 million.
But estimates had ranged to as high as 4 million.