Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles breaking news for our viewers in the West, a stunning report just out It shows a record shattering 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. That is double last week's record report. Rebecca Jarvis starts us off for the latest Good morning, Rebecca. Good morning, George, and it's hard to even wrap your head around these gigantic numbers. The most optimistic takeaway is that Americans are doing what they've been told. Businesses are shuttered, people are staying indoors. But more than six million people were laid off last week, 6.6 million plus people laid off in a single week. That is the equivalent off all of Houston, all of Phoenix, all of Philadelphia and all of San Jose. Every man, woman and child in those cities laid off in a single week this morning, a mind boggling report on layoffs. More than 6.6 million Americans filing new claims for unemployment insurance last week, the largest number in a single week ever and two times as many as the week before. With so many across the country already struggling and out of work phone lines and Web sites to apply for unemployment insurance, are jammed. This is probably gonna be about, uh, 30th time calling today. Juliana Calderon was a restaurant server in Long Island, New York, who tried to file for unemployment the day after she was laid off. I have been trying to file for unemployment for about almost two weeks as the epicenter of the Corona virus pandemic. New York has seen telephone calls to the Department of Labor increase 16,000% and Web traffic up by nearly 900 per set. But the problems are prevalent everywhere. I've applied for unemployment. I haven't heard back other co workers the same story. I guess they're overloaded with requests. When we were furloughed, I immediately filed on their website, which took days. Honestly, no file, even just to get signed on took me five hours. Economists warn the jobs picture will continue to worsen before it gets better. We know that the illness and the contagion will get worse. We also know that the fatalities will get worse. But there's also fatalities in the economy, and that's what makes this crisis so unique. And hard is it is. Anil. Sides were getting hit on every sign time that for many like Giuliana is running out. I have decided to start weighing in the possibility of maybe applying to look old food store. I would prefer to stay at home just as we were advised. But some of us don't have the luxury of waiting around for a check to come in, and I am definitely one of those people. And given today's numbers, we now know that over the last two weeks more than 10 million Americans were laid off from their jobs. Even if you look at the data those unemployment claims, we know that a lot of people, as you heard there, have not been able to file because of issues with the system. They haven't been able to get through on those unemployment insurance websites and through those call lines. So we know that there are even more people than those numbers reflect. Looking for help right now, Here's what you need to know. You do have to apply for that unemployment insurance in order to get it. Unlike those stimulus checks, the $1200 checks, which should be going out in the next coming weeks, you have to go through the websites through the phone lines to get it. A lot of states have been building up there and improving their systems in order to make it more accessible for people. They never anticipated such a gigantic influx of new people needing that relief so quickly, and that's what's really bogged down the system. But they are making improvements. And the most important thing, if you are unemployed and you recently lost your job to know is the insurance is there. Be patient, keep those applications coming. And finally, you will eventually get those stimulus checks the $1200 stimulus checks automatically deposited into your bank account. Ah, lot of people want to know what does the new normal look like on the other side of all of this, when will those jobs come back? And the key question there is. What does the economy look like on the other side of this? Ah, lot of people clearly are in pain right now. They're feeling this right now, but there are also a lot of businesses that are rising to the occasion, rising to the challenge, doing what they can for their employees and they tell me. But on the other side of this they planned. Hire those people back. Traffic might be down a little bit in the near term, But in the longer term, as businesses look to the future, they believe that those employees will come back. George. Thanks, Rebecca.
B1 ABCNews unemployment insurance laid week file 6.6 million file for unemployment: Historic job losses in the US | ABC News 5 0 林宜悉 posted on 2020/04/04 More Share Save Report Video vocabulary