The ranks of US workers laid off at least temporarily by the coronavirus pandemic exceeded 42 million, with 1.87 million new jobless benefit claims filed last week, according to AFP.

The number of new claims filed in the week ended May 30 were slightly worse than expected but 249,000 less than the week prior, indicating the unprecedented layoffs were slowing.

“This and other indicators suggest not that the job market is improving but that it's getting bad less quickly,” tweeted Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities think tank.