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Numbers released on Thursday by the Labor Department — as well as a preliminary analysis of even more recent data — provide the first hard confirmation that the new coronavirus is bringing the United States economy to a shuddering halt. The government reported that the number of initial unemployment claims rose to 281,000 last week, a sharp rise from 211,000 the previous week. This rise in initial claims of 70,000 is larger than any week-to-week movement that occurred during (or since) the 2008 financial crisis. But even these numbers understate the economy’s free fall, as they reflect the state of the economy last week. Based on preliminary news reports this week from 15 states, it’s already clear that initial claims will skyrocket next week, most likely to levels never seen before. (Bui and Wolfers, 3/19)

Economists said their own tracking of data from individual states suggests claims could shoot up to at least 1.5 million this week. Data for the week ending March 21 will be published next Thursday. “State filings offices for Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut report claims filings this week are running six to 14 times higher than the same week last year,” said Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic advisor at Brean Capital in New York. (Mutikani, 3/19)

The Trump administration asked states to abstain from releasing unemployment-claims figures prior to the publication of a national compilation of weekly U.S. jobless claims, according to a state labor department official. The official cited an email sent on Wednesday from Gay Gilbert, an administrator at the U.S. Labor Department. The message, sent as states across the nation started reporting surges in claims tied to the coronavirus pandemic, said jobless claims are closely watched by policy makers and financial markets during a time of fast-changing economic conditions. (Chaney, 3/19)

The best place to get a job right now might be the unemployment office. In Washington State, where the coronavirus outbreak found its first foothold in the United States, officials are trying to fill multiple positions processing jobless claims. ... It’s only the start of what will be a hiring boom by these government offices, which have been running on skeleton crews after years of historically low unemployment. Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Nebraska have also posted openings. Texas said it was trying to add people, too. (Hsu and Siegel Bernard, 3/19)

As Americans turn to unemployment insurance, some are finding they do not qualify. Or if they do, the average payment of $385 a week is modest. In some states, there is a week-long waiting period before the first payment arrives. “Workers expect unemployment insurance to be there for them in a downturn. A bunch of workers are about to find out that it’s not,” said Martha Gimbel, a labor economist at Schmidt Futures who was formerly at Indeed.com. “This is a real-life nightmare. Every hole we allowed to grow in our social safety net is hitting us all at once.” (Long and Bhattarai, 3/19)

The U.S. and global economies have come to a shuddering stop, unleashing a wave of layoffs that is much larger and moving much faster than job losses in previous downturns. They are swamping state unemployment benefits systems and leaving many Americans still working anxious about whether they will be next. (Rugaber, 3/19)

We’ve all seen the unsettling images of what happens when the economy goes haywire. Bread lines, farmers abandoning the Dust Bowl, drivers queued up to fill their gas tanks, houses with foreclosure notices pounded into their front lawns. Add to that a rush-hour view of a Los Angeles freeway, typically jammed with commuters, but now more like a Sunday morning due to a virus that has wrecked the once-booming U.S economy just two months after the first confirmed domestic case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. (Darmiento, 3/19)

With her six hungry children in the car, Summer Mossbarger was one of the first in line for lunch at the drive-through. Not at a fast-food restaurant, but outside Alton Elementary School. Alton was closed — all the public schools in Brenham, a rural Texas town of 17,000 about 90 miles east of Austin, have shut for the coronavirus — but one vital piece of the school day lived on: free lunch. Ms. Mossbarger rolled down the window of her used, 15-year-old S.U.V. as school employees handed her six Styrofoam containers. (Fernandez, 3/20)

A type of private insurance used by wealthy business owners to cover unlikely risks that has been challenged by the Internal Revenue Service is proving to be beneficial as the coronavirus pandemic shuts down local economies. The structure, known as a small captive insurance, allows business owners to self-insure against unlikely but costly risks. Because captive insurance has also created incentives for tax avoidance, the I.R.S. has put it on its “dirty dozen” list of the most abusive tax practices since 2014. (Sullivan, 3/20)

Servers and kitchen staff, many of whom have been let go with little or no notice, are now trying to figure out how to pay the rent. Some already had a side hustle, or more than one, to help pay bills that bartending and waiting tables couldn’t pay. Now, they’re looking into unemployment benefits, asking parents or relatives for help, searching for temporary gigs — almost anything will do. Some hope for aid from the relief fund set up by the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington or the “D.C. Virtual Tip Jar,” an online database that allows people to send tips to staff at various restaurants. Gratuities were a main part of a daily wage, and they were getting scarce before the shutdowns began. (Kunkle, 3/19)

Despite suffering from bronchitis at the beginning of the semester, Valeria Pappas-Brown, 48, soldiered on to teach biology classes at the Community College of Baltimore County. The part-time instructor suspects that trudging from one class to another — instead of resting — prolonged her illness. But she could not afford to miss class. “Because of the pay, because of the sick leave — I just don’t have enough accrued — I can’t take any time off,” Pappas-Brown said. (Douglas-Gabriel, 3/17)

Kaiser Health News: Gig Economy Workers Hurt By Coronavirus Eye New Federal Funds For Relief

Being your own boss can mean missing out on benefits that many employees get on the job: paid leave when you’re sick or caring for a family member. That is scheduled to change under an emergency law enacted Wednesday that would provide financial relief for a broad swath of people affected by the novel coronavirus, including people who are self-employed. And a few states already offer paid leave programs that can help consultants, gig workers and other self-employed people in times like these. But they won’t provide immediate help for those who haven’t yet signed up. (Andrews, 3/19)

As the coronavirus pandemic destabilizes an already fragile gig economy in the U.S., rideshare drivers say the "misclassification" of workers as contractors instead of employees is helping to contribute to a "public health disaster." "When there is a pandemic illness that nobody should be exposed to that's where you see the cracks," Nicole Moore, a Lyft driver labor organizer in Los Angeles said of the rideshare industry. (Thorbecke, 3/20)

Homeowners who have lost income or their jobs because of the coronavirus outbreak are getting some relief. Depending on their situation, they should be eligible to have their mortgage payments reduced or suspended for up to 12 months. Federal regulators, through the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are ordering lenders to offer homeowners flexibility. The move covers about half of all home loans in the U.S. — those guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie. But regulators expect that the entire mortgage industry will quickly adopt a similar policy. (Arnold, 3/19)

When hospitals need to prep a room for the next coronavirus test, when jetliners discharge their passengers at the gate, when suburbanites start to take sanitary precautions more seriously, the call goes out: Send in the cleaners. These largely unsung workers are often the first line of defense against the global COVID-19 pandemic, cleaning and disinfecting homes, offices, medical facilities and public spaces where the novel coronavirus could spread. But the people doing all this cleaning earn low wages, frequently lack sick leave and paid days off, and can be fired with no warning. (Anderson, Olson and Chan, 3/19)

The coronavirus is exposing potential flaws in America’s financial regulatory system, a decade after a massive overhaul was designed to prevent the next crisis. While U.S. banks have much stronger balance sheets than they did during the 2008 financial crisis, some of the reforms in the so-called Dodd-Frank law passed in 2010 did not anticipate that a devastating pandemic would virtually shut down the global economy. (Warmbrodt, 3/20)

For many Americans right now, the scale of the coronavirus crisis calls to mind 9/11 or the 2008 financial crisis—events that reshaped society in lasting ways, from how we travel and buy homes, to the level of security and surveillance we’re accustomed to, and even to the language we use. Politico Magazine surveyed more than thirty smart, macro thinkers this week, and they have some news for you: Buckle in. This could be bigger. (3/19)