Unemployment Claims Grow by Another 3.2 Million People Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. × Search search POPULAR SEARCHES SUGGESTED LINKS Join AARP for just $9 per year when you sign up for a 5-year term. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Leaving AARP.org Website You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply.

Another 3 2 Million File Unemployment Claims

More than 33 million people have filed for benefits since the coronavirus shutdowns started

Eddie Rodriguez hands out unemployment applications to people in their vehicles in front of the John F. Kennedy Library in Hialeah, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images and slash their workforces. That is the equivalent of 1 in 5 Americans who had been employed back in February, when the unemployment rate had reached a 50-year low of just 3.5 percent. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. The Labor Department's report Thursday suggests that layoffs, while still breathtakingly high, are steadily declining, after sharp spikes in late March and early April. Initial claims for unemployment aid have now fallen for five straight weeks, from a peak of nearly 6.9 million during the week that ended March 28. Applications for jobless aid rose in just six states last week, including Maine, New Jersey and Oklahoma, and declined in the 44 others. The report showed that 22.7 million people are now receiving unemployment aid — a rough measure of job losses since the shutdowns began. That figure lags a week behind the figures for first-time unemployment applications. And not everyone who applies for jobless aid is approved. The number of laid-off workers receiving aid is now equal to 15.5 percent of the workforce that is eligible for unemployment benefits. Restaurants 15% off dine-in and pickup orders See more Restaurants offers > Those figures are a rough proxy for the job losses and for the unemployment rate that will be released Friday, which will likely be the worst since modern record-keeping began after World War II. The unemployment rate is forecast to reach 16 percent, the highest rate since the Great Depression, and economists estimate that 21 million jobs were lost last month. If so, it would mean that nearly all the job growth in the 11 years since the Great Recession ended has vanished in a single month. AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. or they felt too discouraged to try. As the economy slides further into what looks like a severe recession, economists are projecting that the gross domestic product — the broadest gauge of economic growth — is contracting in the current April–June quarter by a shocking 40 percent annual rate. As it does, more layoffs appear to be spreading beyond frontline industries like restaurants, hotels and retail stores. GE Aviation, for example, has said it is cutting up to 13,000 jobs. Uber will shed 3,700 positions. MGM Resorts International has announced that the furloughs of more than 60,000 employees could turn into layoffs. But the job cuts have hammered workers at restaurants, hotels and retail firms particularly hard. According to the payroll processor ADP, about half the total jobs in the hotel and restaurant industry — 8.6 million — disappeared in April, based on data from its corporate clients. A category that includes retail and shipping shed 3.4 million workers. AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. . That represents a significant help to millions of laid-off workers, many of whom still remain anxious and uncertain. More on work AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Home & Real Estate offers > See more Restaurants offers > See more Work & Jobs offers > See more Groceries offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS