The battle against coronavirus has forced 3.35 million Californians to file unemployment claims in five weeks.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday, April 23 that California had 533,568 filings in the week ended April 18. Yes, that’s down 121,904 in seven days. However, it brings the tally for the past five weeks to 3.35 million filings vs. 2.11 million combined in the previous 52 weeks.

By the way, in the heat of the Great Recession, 3.88 million claims were made in all of 2009.

Are you a real estate fan? Then sign up for The Home Stretch newsletter and its Bubble Watch edition A twice-a-week review of what’s important for housing around the region! Subscribe here!

Nationally, there were 4.43 million filings for the week, down 810,000 million in seven days. Past five weeks? 26.45 million filings vs. 11.31 million previous 52 weeks.

Note: California filings represented 12.7% of claims nationwide in the past five weeks vs. 18.7% in the previous 52 weeks.

California Forecast estimates that based on jobless claims data, the state’s unemployment rate is 22.3% and the U.S. rate is 19.7% — levels last seen in the Great Depression. Another estimate put Southern California’s unemployment rate to 31% for May, according to the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.