"US Labor Market Is In Free-Fall" - 10 Million Americans Have Filed For Unemployment In Past 2 Weeks https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/shocking-9-million-americans-have-now-filed-unemployment-benefits-lockdowns-began After last week's unprecedented 3.3 million surge in initial jobless claims, this week's is even more unprecedented-er, adding a stunning 6.648 million (just 100k away from our estimate of 6.5million) for a two-week sum of 10 million new Americans claiming unemployment benefits... This is simply stunning. And another important note is that weekly jobless claims data are based on "hard facts", UBS points out, unlike survey data which is subject to quirks around: Of course, the government is coming to the rescue. As a result of the freshly-passed 'relief' bill, self-employed and gig-workers who previously were unable to claim unemployment benefits are now eligible. In addition, the unemployed will get up to $600 per week for up to four months, which is equivalent to $15 per hour for a 40-hour workweek. By comparison, the government-mandated minimum wage is about $7.25 per hour and the average jobless benefits payment was roughly $385 per person per month at the start of this year.