Coronavirus has lead 22 million Americans to file for unemployment benefits

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COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the United States and as more people get sick more people make their way to the unemployment office to file for benefits.

According to CNN, 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment since March 14, one month since the pandemic became a serious health and economic issue here. The US Department of Labor notes that 5.2 million of those people filed just last week bringing up the national unemployment rate to 13.5%.

Congress approved an extra $600 per month be added to those previously existing benefits. We’ll be watching to see if they raise that number even higher during the next round of stimulus allocations.

Some economists hold the belief that this rocketing rate of unemployment will only be temporary, but what exactly is “temporary”? Another two months? Three? Six? It’s all a guess at this point as no one really can say when the crisis will end.

If you know people are struggling to make ends meet right now, help them where you can.