US Jobless Claims: Off the charts – RBC Economics

US jobless claims were off the charts at 3.28 million last week. Increase of 3 million from the previous week, nearly 2% of labour force, Josh Nye, a Senior Economist at the Royal Bank of Canada, briefs.

Key quotes

“Today's initial claims figure was at the upper end of the wide range of market expectations. In any case, it's absolutely shocking to see 2% of the US labour force making jobless claims in a single week.”

“The scale of layoffs underscores the need for more generous unemployment insurance to help people through this unprecedented period of economic disruption.”