The Labor Department saw an additional 3 million people seeking unemployment claims last week — the highest increase of unemployment claims the Labor Department has recorded since it began measuring seasonal unemployment.
It also marked the highest level of insured unemployment since April 2018, when the unemployment rate was at 3.9 percent.
According to figures released Thursday morning, 3.2 million people sought unemployment between March 14 and March 21.
Previously, the highest increase in unemployment claims came in October of 1982, when the Department of Labor saw an increase of 695,000 unemployment claims.
In February, the Labor Department reported that unemployment had reached a 50-year low of 3.5 percent.