Worrisome record in the United States. The weekly demands for unemployment benefits registered a new record last week, with 6.6 million new demands, indicated Thursday April 2 the Department of Labor.

This is double the previous week, which had registered 3.3 million new unemployment benefit claimants, which was already a historic record.

Analysts had expected 2.8 million new claimants during the week of March 22-29.

>> Read: Coronavirus: Record number of unemployed workers registered in the United States

The verdict of the figures expected Friday

The unemployment rate in the United States for the month of March is due to be released on Friday. It should be 4%, say analysts, who expect only a slight increase compared to February when it was 3.5%, its lowest level in fifty years.

Experts point out that the real effects of the coronavirus crisis will not be felt until April, as the figures taken into account in March predate the massive containment measures, which forced many companies to shut down or drastically reduce their activity.

The smallest American companies, those with less than 50 employees, nevertheless began to destroy jobs in March, which had only happened once in almost ten years.

Recovery plan

The economic recovery plan ratified on Friday by Donald Trump, after being approved in Congress, extends unemployment benefits to the self-employed or part-time in particular, as well as to the sick or quarantined.

This should have the effect of inflating the number of claimants, since people who were not previously entitled to it can now claim it.

The unemployment benefit is also increased by $ 600 per week for four months, so that workers who find themselves unemployed can earn their full-time wages - except for the highest earners - during this period.

The virus killed 5,137 people in the United States, and infected 216,722 people, according to a count by the Johns Hopkins American University which refers.

With AFP

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