US unemployment claims jump to highest since September 2017

'We're not prepared. People think that we're immune from this,' warns Democratic senator

The coronavirus outbreak has Americans seeking jobless benefits at a breakneck pace, with the Labor Department saying Thursday that 281,000 people applied for assistance last week – a 33 percent jump from the previous seven days.

The new data shows just how deeply laid off employees of bars, restaurants and other service industry sector entities could hobble the US economy during the outbreak, which federal and state officials say could last several more months. Donald Trump has said the country could be dealing with COVID-19's effects until July or August, though he tweeted this Thursday morning: "We are going to WIN, sooner rather than later!"

White House officials and senior lawmakers from both parties are negotiating a massive economic stimulus bill that could be on the House and Senate floor by next week that likely will include provisions allowing payments of up to $2,000 to some Americans, which would supplement any unemployment benefits they might receive.

But talks to hammer out a compromise version of a bill that large and complicated always take time, meaning laid off workers will continue seeking unemployment benefits in the meantime.

"The president and I worked on a very significant economic stimulus plan," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said this week. "We look forward to having bipartisan support. We're now working with the Senate to pass this legislation very quickly. "

The Trump administration wants to include help for small and large business, banking those firms would pass along benefits to their employees.

"And these will be payments to small businesses. We've talked about loan guarantees to critical industries such as airlines and hotels," Mr Mnuchin said. "And we've also talked about a stimulus package to the American worker. You can think of this as something like business interruption payments for the American workers."

As those talks continue behind closed doors, Democrats continue to criticise Mr Trump and his administration for what they call a slow response, slamming the White House for opting against airport screening and ordering millions of test kits and equipment for hospitals even though there was evidence the virus was headed to US soil.

"I was hoping that the president would not go down that road and making it look like we're doing something special. What we did, they didn't test," West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin III said. "Up until a couple of days ago, we had 40 tests done [in West Virginia]. Now I think we're at 130 or so."

"But with that being said," he added, "we have no testing. We're not prepared. People think that we're immune from this."