A staggering 6,648,000 Americans signed up for initial unemployment claims during the week ending March 28, as employers continue to cut jobs in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic — and the D.C. metro area was not immune.
The Department of Labor also revised the number of initial jobless claims the previous week higher, to 3,341,000, bringing the two-week total number of Americans signing up for unemployment benefits for the first time to nearly 9.9 million.
The national claims numbers are adjusted for seasonal influences.
Not seasonally adjusted, national first-time claims totaled 5,823,917.
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First-time claims in Virginia and Maryland more than doubled from the previous week’s spike. In D.C., the numbers rose only modestly from last week.
D.C., Maryland and Virginia initial jobless claims during the weeks ending March 28 and March 21, not seasonally adjusted:
District of Columbia
- Week ending March 28: 14,868
- Week ending March 21: 14,462
Maryland
- Week ending March 28: 83,536
- Week ending March 21: 42,981
Virginia
- Week ending March 28: 114,104
- Week ending March 21: 46,277
