Unemployment claims totaled 661,000 in California last week, a brutally high number that suggests the economic fallout from the coronavirus continues to bludgeon the state’s feeble economy, federal officials reported Thursday.
Nationwide, 5.25 million people filed initial unemployment claims, which pushed the number of people who have lost their jobs in the United States over the last four weeks to around 21 million.
About 2.8 million California residents have filed for unemployment over the last month, based on the preliminary estimates from the U.S. Labor Department.
