An additional 6.6 million American workers filed first-time unemployment claims for the week ending April 4, bringing the total number of claims to 16 million over the past three weeks.
The week ending in March 21 saw 3.3 million people filing unemployment claims, breaking the previous record in 1982 of 695,000. The following week, ending on March 28, the figures doubled to 6.6 million, which was revised upward to 6.9 million. The surge in unemployment claims came after the $2.2 trillion relief bill was expanded to include the self-employed and independent contractors.