"In the week ending 11 April, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 5,245,000, a decrease of 1,370,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 9,000 from 6,606,000 to 6,615,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,508,500, an increase of 1,240,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 2,250 from 4,265,500 to 4,267,750", the Labor Department said.
The latest claims put the advanced seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate at 8.2 percent for the week ending April 4, or 3.1 percent more than the week before, the report said.
"This marks the highest level of the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate in the history of the seasonally adjusted series. The previous high was 7.0 percent in May of 1975", it added.
The highest unemployment rates for the week ending March 28 were recorded in the US states of Rhode Island (11.9 percent), Pennsylvania (9.8 percent) and Washington (9.3 percent), the report said.
The World Health Organisation declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on 11 March. To date, more than 2 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 133,000 fatalities, according to the same university.