Unemployment ramps up

In the USA, in addition to the unemployment rate which is derived from a monthly survey by the Department of Labor, the total number of people signing up for unemployment benefit at the states is also collected.  This gives us weekly data, which is a little more volatile than the monthly employment and unemployment data, but is also much more up to date.  It measures the change in unemployment, rather than its level, so it is a lead indicator.  It jumped sharply in the latest week. Unfortunately, this is just the beginning.  Things are going to get much, much worse.

Source: Trading Economics