Plummeting Positions

For the past several years, weekly job losses averaged about 225,000/week. Last week they jumped to 282,000, and the all-time high was 695,000 set during the week ending 10/2/82. During the Great Recession, first time unemployment claims peaked at 665,000 during the week ending 3/28/09. Last week, the week ending 3/20/20, they hit a knee-buckling 3,283,000; almost five times the previous high!! Data for March and April will be horrendous.