Another 3.84 million Americans filed for unemployment last week. But the pace of weekly jobless claims has slowed since its record high of 6.86 million in mid-March. As state orders caused businesses to shutter and decrease staff to slow the spread of the coronavirus, millions have rushed to file for benefits.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer implemented some of the strictest COVID-19 restrictions in the nation this week. The Democrat barred people from crossing the street to visit neighbors and closed landscaping businesses. Thousands of people swarmed Lansing, Mich., the state capital, to protest the new coronavirus rules on Wednesday.

Just how many American workers are losing jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic continues to come into clearer focus every week as state governments process backlogged unemployment claims. The U.S. government on Thursday released numbers showing that 6.6 million workers applied for unemployment benefits last week after 48 states closed non-essential businesses.

A record 6.6 million Americans filed unemployment claims last week. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to slam the U.S. economy as more states enforce stay-at-home orders closing non-essential businesses. Jobless claims between March 21 and March 28 more than doubled from the previous week’s record of 3.3 million, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s report on Thursday.

U.S. employers added 266,000 jobs in November, raising hiring to its highest level since January. Wages rose 3.1 percent compared to a year earlier, and unemployment matched the 50-year low set in September at 3.5 percent.

Despite slower hiring, unemployment hit a five-decade low in September. U.S. employers added a modest 136,000 jobs last month, according to numbers the federal government released Friday. The unemployment rate for workers without high school diplomas dropped to 4.8 percent, the lowest recorded level since 1992.

Last year the financial website 24/7 Wall St. declared the Waterloo–Cedar Falls, Iowa, area America’s worst place for African Americans to live. White people there have higher employment and earn almost twice as much as blacks, who have less education and higher arrest rates. Sarah Helleso, 25, is a member of Orchard Hill Church in Cedar Falls. She said residents have noticed the divide for a long time: “There are people in Cedar Falls who won’t go to Waterloo, and then people in Waterloo who have no interest in going to Cedar Falls.”