Another 4.42M Weekly Jobless Claims Made As Economy Reels From Coronavirus

New U.S. jobless claims for the week ending April 17 totaled a whopping 4.427 million, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday. 

The consensus expectation was for 4.2 million new unemployment claims. The prior week's figure was revised to 5.237 million. 

A total of 26 million people in the U.S. have filed for unemployment benefits over a five-week period. 

The data implies a real-time unemployment rate of 21.1% at the minimum, RSM US LLP Chief Economist Joe Brusuelas said in a note. 

"The magnitude of the shock to the labor market is so large that is difficult to not begin thinking about the wage picture for American workers going forward," he said.