U.S. jobless claims surge to 281,000 last week amid COVID-19 fallout

An emergency medical technician wearing a face mask walks out of a Wall Street subway station in New York, the United States, March 17, 2020. (Xinhua/Michael Nagle)

The number of initial jobless claims in the United States surged last week, the highest level in two and a half years, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Thursday.

In the week ending March 14, the number of people filing for U.S. unemployment benefits spiked by 70,000 to 281,000, said the bureau. This is the highest level for initial claims since Sept. 2, 2017 when it was 299,000.

"The increase in initial claims are clearly attributable to impacts from the COVID-19 virus," according to the report.

"A number of states specifically cited COVID-19 related layoffs, while many states reported increased layoffs in service related industries broadly and in the accommodation and food services industries specifically, as well as in the transportation and warehousing industry, whether COVID-19 was identified directly or not," the bureau noted.

As COVID-19 continues to spread across the country, the government has advised Americans to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people. That, coupled with the cancellation of flights and hotel bookings, the delay of major sports events and the partial closures of in-person dining at restaurants and bars, could cost the jobs of a growing number of service industry workers in the days ahead.

The weekly report also showed that the four-week moving average of initial claims, a method to iron out data volatility, increased by 16,500 to 232,250 over the same period. This is the highest level for since Jan. 27, 2018.

U.S. employers added 273,000 jobs in February, and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.5 percent, the bureau reported earlier this month.