For comparison, 4.4 million people applied for benefits for the week ending April 18, and 30.3 million have sought benefits in the past six weeks alone. During normal times, a few hundred thousand people might seek unemployment benefits on any given week, but millions of Americans have filed claims each week for more than a month. It could take many years for the economy to add back the 30 million jobs lost in the past six weeks. ADSimilarly, Google search interest in the topic of furloughs has far exceeded layoff-related searches in recent weeks. The California report also found enormous gaps in who had been forced to file for unemployment benefits.

Source: Washington Post April 30, 2020 12:31 UTC