The jobless claims in the U.S for the week ended 6 June 2020 stood at 1.542 million according to the news release from U.S Department of Labor on Thursday, as layoffs continued due to Covid-19 pandemic.
This new figure brought the total jobless claims in the last 12 weeks to 44.2 million. This implies that over 1 in 4 Americans have lost their job during this pandemic.
The pandemic has greatly affected American employment in a short period of time, more than the Great Depression, which saw about 37 million people file for unemployment during a year and half of the Great Recession.
However, the report on Thursday showed a tenth consecutive decline in the number of people filing for unemployment, after reaching a peak of 6.9 million in the last week of March.
A study from the St. Louis Federal Reserve showed that US employment is down 8.75% from January through June 5, an improvement from the 15.08% drop mid-April.
Read more; U.S Unemployment Rate Beats Expectation; Drops to 13.3%
Millions of people remain reliant on government aid to make ends meet since the pandemic eliminated their jobs.
Spending on unemployment benefits has skyrocketed to nearly $197.5 billion so far this fiscal year, up from $12.7 billion at the beginning of March, according to Treasury Department data.
Nearly $39 billion has already been spent this month alone.
Read more; WHO Backtracks on Asymptomatic Transmission Comment; 409 new cases recorded in Nigeria
In May, the federal government paid out more than $64 billion in unemployment benefits, bringing the total spent so far to just over $91 billion, Treasury Department data shows
On the other hand, states have delivered nearly $30 billion in benefits in May, up from just over $21 billion in April and about $4 billion in March.
Written by
Ifunanya Ikueze
