Economists forecast a record 3.5 million more people filed for unemployment last week amid the coronavirus shutdown

Brian Snyder/Reuters

• Weekly jobless claims are set to hit a second-straight record as the coronavirus further clamps down on the frozen US economy, experts surveyed by Bloomberg said.
• Thursday's claims report will reach 3.5 million, slightly higher than the 3.28 million record seen last week, according to the median reading from 46 economists surveyed.
• The gloomiest projection sits at 6.5 million, while the lowest is 800,000.
• Claims in the week ended March 28 are set to include spillover from last week's report and filings driven by the Senate's $2 trillion stimulus package, which bolstered unemployment benefits by $600 per week.
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Weekly unemployment insurance claims are set to post a second-straight record as the coronavirus tears deeper into the US economy, experts surveyed by Bloomberg said.

Data scheduled to be released Thursday morning will reveal how many Americans filed jobless claims for the week ended March 28. The economists' estimate sits at 3.5 million, a dire escalation of how hard the US has been pummeled by the outbreak.

Last week's report showed 3.28 million Americans filing for unemployment benefits, quadruple the previous record set in 1982 and double Bloomberg's consensus estimate.

The latest estimate is a median reading from 46 surveyed economists. The highest projection among those sampled is 6.5 million claims, while the lowest is 800,000. The survey's mean estimate is just 2,700 weekly claims higher than the median figure.

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The previous release was the first to capture a sharp increase in layoff activity fueled by the outbreak, and suggested coronavirus' economic fallout will be far worse than initially expected. Several states' unemployment registration websites crashed under the unprecedented user load, and Thursday's data could include some spillover from those unable to file the previous week.

Passage of the government's $2 trillion stimulus package could also add to the weekly total. The fiscal relief bill expands jobless benefits by an additional $600 per week payment for four months. The increased support could bring new claims from those who didn't file before the bill's passage and signing by President Trump.

Jobless claims have served as one of the most relevant data releases for tracking the pandemic's sudden hit to economic activity. Upcoming monthly reports will likely post relatively small changes as they cover only the beginning of March, before the outbreak spread further and prompted widespread quarantines and business closures.

Purchasing manager indexes have also painted an ominous picture of how quickly the coronavirus slowed key industries. IHS Markit's index covering the US service and manufacturing sectors slipped to 40.5 in March from 49.6, a record low for the metric and its steepest decline since data collection began in 2009. Service sector employment tanked at its fastest pace since last October, according to IHS Markit.

"Jobs are already being slashed at a pace not witnessed since the global financial crisis in 2009 as firms either close or reduce capacity amid widespread cost-cutting," Chris Williamson, the firm's chief business economist, said.

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