Over 2.1M Americans filed for unemployment last week, pushing total job losses to 40M from coronavirus lockdown

More than 2.1 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment last week, the Labor Department reported on Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic, and the ensuing economic lockdown, continued to wreak havoc on the jobs market.

Economists surveyed by Refinitiv had forecast 2.1 million.

The new report, which covers the week ending May 23, pushes the 10-week total of losses since states directed residents to stay at home and forced nonessential businesses to close to 40 million, a rate of unemployment unseen since the Great Depression.

Still, although the number of workers seeking assistance remains significantly higher than it did before the coronavirus lockdown began ⁠— it's the 10th straight week that layoffs were counted in the millions ⁠— it's the lowest amount of jobless claims since the week ended March 15.