Unemployment claims continue to rise

The Labor Department reports today that more than four million people applied for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total number seeking benefits to over 26 million since the spread of Coronavirus forced states to shut down.

Over the last four weeks, the labor force lost more than 22 million jobs. That erases nearly all the jobs gained since the Great Recession.

Most states were seeing initial claims slowing from week’s past, but analysts say the pain is compounding.