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As the economy craters, small businesses are among the hardest hit. When unemployment claims began to jump nationwide in March, layoffs among small business spiked 1,021% compared to the month before, according to exclusive data compiled by human resource provider Gusto, based on more than 100,000 small businesses nationwide. "This is unprecedented," said Daniel Sternberg, the head of data science at Gusto. Following a decade of job growth, small businesses quickly resorted to layoffs, furloughs and slashed employee hours in order to survive the economic fallout from COVID-19.