Unemployment Claims Rise By Another 3 Million

It didn't have to be this way:

The COVID-19 pandemic’s continued impact on the labor market was highlighted Thursday morning when the U.S. Labor Department released its weekly initial jobless claims report.

Another 2.981 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending May 9 surpassing economists’ estimates for 2.5 million jobless claims for the week. The prior week’s figure was revised higher to 3.18 million from the previously reported 3.17 million jobless claims. Over the past two months, more than 36 million Americans have filed unemployment insurance claims.

Continuing claims, which lags initial jobless claims data by one week, totaled a record 22.83 million in the week ending May 2 following 22.38 million continuing claims in the prior week.  (our emphasis)

The bungling of the COVID-19 response by carnival barker and Giant Toddler Donald "American Carnage" Trump continues to reverberate through the economy.