US Weekly Jobless Claims Soar to Record-Breaking 3.28 Million The Labor Department released the shattering numbers on Thursday.
Jobless claims had been as low as 282,000 the previous week.
3.28 million jobless claims for last week is more than double the 1.5 million new claims that analysts were expecting.
To put the numbers in perspective, jobless claims during the peak of the Great Recession in March of 2009 hit 665,000.
The previous record-breaking week for jobless claims occurred in Oct.
1982.
The record set then was 695,000.
The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, addressed the jobless crisis in an interview Thursday morning on NBC's 'Today' show.
Jerome Powell, Fed Reserve, via CNBC Jerome Powell, Fed Reserve, via CNBC
