At least 16.6 million Americans have lost their jobs since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to nightmarish new figures released Thursday. The weekly jobless numbers from the Department of Labor showed an additional 6.6 million Americans filed claims last week. The two previous weeks saw around 10 million claims, so the total number has now soared way above 16 million. That exceeds the 15 million that it took 18 months for the Great Recession to knock out of the market in 2007-2009, according to Politico. The Associated Press reported that roughly one in 10 working Americans have lost their jobs in just the past three weeks.
