The health crisis has increasingly become an economic one.
The coronavirus pandemic has quickly evolved from a health crisis to a financial one, shuttering businesses, upending entire industries and sending financial markets reeling.
Here’s the latest news on how the COVID-19 crisis is affecting the economy. For more on financial resources available during the pandemic, click here.
Weekly unemployment filings reach new record
A record number of people — 3.28 million — filed for unemployment claims in the week ending March 21, according to U.S. Department of Labor data released Thursday.
That’s an increase of 3 million from the previous week.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced thousands of businesses to close amid government-mandated stay-in-place orders. The outbreak has especially hit the food, service and retail industry hard.
The new staggering figure comes as the unemployment rate was near a 50-year low just weeks ago.
The previous highest week on record was 695,000 unemployment filings in 1982.
