The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits surged to a 2-1/2-year high last week, suggesting a pickup in layoffs as the coronavirus pandemic fractures economic activity.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits jumped 70,000 to a seasonally adjusted 281,000 for the week ended March 14, the highest level since September 2017, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Data for the prior week was unrevised.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims would increase to 220,000 in the latest week. The Labor Department attributed the jump in claims to COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus.
“A number of states specifically cited COVID-19 related layoffs, while many states reported increased layoffs in service related industries broadly and in the accommodation and food services industries specifically, as well as in the transportation and warehousing industry, whether COVID-19 was identified directly or not,” it said.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)
