More Than 6.6 Million Americans Added To Federal Unemployment Rolls
- According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 6.6 million individuals filed for federal unemployment benefitsduring the week that ended April 4, down from 6.867 million the week before. The U.S. Labor Departmentalso announced last week that there were 6.9 million jobs open in the United States in February (before COVID-19 forced the shutdown of many parts of the economy).
- In other economic news: the U.S. producer price index (PPI) fell 0.2 percent from February 2020 to March 2020, but increased 0.7 percent from March 2019 to March 2020; the U.S. consumer price index fell 0.4 percent between February and March, the largest monthly decline since January 2015, but was up 1.5 percent year-over-year; and real average hourly earnings for all U.S. employees increased 0.8 percent from February to March and 1.6 percent from Marcy 2019 to March 2020.