Weekly jobless claims hit 6.6 million due to coronavirus outbreak, Labor Department says

Another 6.6 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week, the government reported on Thursday, as the economic shutdown due to the coronavirus continued to devastate the labor market.
Claims for the previous week were revised upward to 6.8 million. The three-week total for jobless claims now stands at 16.5 million.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department announced Thursday another $2.3 trillion in stimulus. They established a Main Street Business Lending Program and a Municipal Liquidity Facility to support the flow of credit to American workers, businesses, states, counties, and cities impacted by the pandemic.

“The Main Street Business Lending Program will make a significant difference for the 40,000 medium-sized businesses that employ 35 million Americans,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.

Treasury said small and medium-sized businesses, “through no fault of their own, have faced severe financial strain from widespread closures and liquidity pressures in the financial system.”

Using funds appropriated under the CARES Act, Treasury will make a $75 billion equity investment to implement the Main Street Business Lending Program. This investment will enable up to $600 billion in new financing for businesses with up to 10,000 employees or $2.5 billion in 2019 annual revenues.

Stocks opened higher on the Fed announcement, with major indexes gaining about 2% in early trading.

The $2.2 trillion economic rescue package signed into law by President Trump on March 27 provides an extra $600 per week in unemployment benefits on top of the normal state jobless benefit.

Senate Republicans on Thursday want to approve an extra $250 billion to replenish the Paycheck Protection Program, a $350 billion emergency job-retention fund for small businesses. But Democrats are threatening to block the move unless Republicans agree to add billions more for hospitals, low-income communities, states and food-stamp benefits.

Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the conservative Job Creators Network, said the latest unemployment claims show that the nation is “in a true economic emergency, losing 34,000 jobs every hour over the past three weeks.”

“The $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program, launched just six days ago, is a lifeline for small businesses, but we need a lot more immediately,” Mr. Ortiz said. “The Trump administration and [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell recognize this, but [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi and [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer are playing politics at the worst possible time. We need Congress to approve another round of PPP funding today. No delays, no excuses.”