More than 33 million Americans have filed unemployment claims in 7 weeks

Unemployment applications are seen in Hialeah, Florida
(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

About 3.2 million more Americans filed initial unemployment claims last week, bringing the total across seven weeks to more than 33 million.

The Labor Department said on Thursday that the number of seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims filed last week was 3.17 million, a decline of 677,000 from the week before, but still higher than the 3.05 million claims economists were expecting, per CNBC.

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This comes ahead of what's expected to be a dire April jobs report to be released on Friday, which The Associated Press reports economists say will likely show the unemployment rate is 16 percent as 21 million jobs were lost, although The New York Times notes that the unemployment figure provided "will almost certainly understate the damage." The unemployment rate climbed to 4.4 percent in March, officially ending a nearly 10-year streak of job gains.

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.