Coronavirus: Unemployment claims estimated to spike to record 2.25 million Americans after businesses shut down

Goldman Sachs makes the prediction based on state reports

Unemployment claims are anticipated to spike to a record 2.25 million Americans after businesses were forced to shut down across the country during the coronavirus pandemic.

Goldman Sachs made the prediction based on state reports of the number of people laid off this week from businesses - like airlines, hotels, restaurants, and bars - and forced to stay home to avoid contracting the novel virus.

“Many US states have reported unprecedented surges in jobless claims this week,” David Choi, one of the bank’s economists, said.

Jobless claims rose from 70,000 to 281,000 last week in the first wave of people being unable to go to work, according to a report released on Thursday.

But next week’s report is only supposed to balloon from there with an estimated eight times the number of Americans filing for unemployment in a single week, the highest amount on record.

Goldman Sachs noted the number of jobless claims potentially slowed down as the week progressed, with a conservative estimate of unemployment claims being at one million Americans.

States were flooded with jobless claims this week as more and more governors shut down businesses.

In Pennsylvania, the state received about 120,000 unemployment claims on Monday and Tuesday alone, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

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New York state also received an influx of calls from people filing unemployment, with 157,000 people calling on Thursday. Typically, the state receives an estimated 10,000 per day.

A large spike in jobless claims also occurred in California.

“Two, three days ago we saw about 40,000 ... then 70,000.” California Governor Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. “Yesterday, 80,000 applications. It doubled in a 48 hours period.”

On average, California will see about 2,000 claims per day.

While some companies are laying off workers during the pandemic, others - including Amazon, Walmart, and Dominos - are employing more people to address an increase in demand for their services during the pandemic.