Some 3.2 million Americans filed unemployment claims last week, bringing the seven-week total for people seeking jobless benefits to more than 33 million Americans, said the Labor Department on Thursday.
The unemployment rate has jumped from around 3.5 percent earlier this year to close to 20 percent now, it said in a statement.
In the week ending May 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 3,169,000, a decrease of 677,000 from the previous week’s revised level.
The vast majority of laid-off or furloughed workers – 77 percent – expect to be rehired by their previous employer once the stay-at-home orders in their area are lifted, according to a nationwide Washington Post-Ipsos poll.
Nearly 6 in 10 say it is “very likely” they will get their old job back, according to the poll, which was conducted April 27-May 4 among 928 workers who were laid off or furloughed since the outbreak began.
Economists warn the optimism could be misplaced. The longer people are out of work, the less likely they are to be called back.
A new report from the Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago predicts 42 percent of the recent layoffs from the pandemic will result in permanent job losses.
3.8 million Americans sought jobless benefits last week, bringing total number of claims to roughly 30 million in six weeks.
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