The Economy Is Ruined. It Didn’t Have to Be This Way.
Almost 10 million Americans have already filed for unemployment benefits. Congress can still act to stem the tide.
by Derek Thompson
Apr 02, 2020
4 minutes
For the second straight week, the U.S. workforce set a dismal unemployment record. On Thursday morning, the Labor Department reported that 6.6 million people filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week. That figure is twice as high as the previous record of 3.3 million, set just seven days ago.
This brings the two-week total of initial claims to nearly 10 million. That’s 10 million Americans who have lost their jobs—and, in many cases, —in the spiraling chaos of a public-health crisis. Ten million Americans who have been thrust into unemployment-insurance programs, with their company on pause, their start-up ruined, or their
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