People who lost their jobs wait in line to file for unemployment following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at an Arkansas Workforce Center in Fort Smith, Arkansas, April 6, 2020. Nick Oxford | Reuters

Another 5 million workers are expected to have filed new unemployment claims last week, reflecting a larger swath of the country now under shutdown orders because of the coronavirus. Together with the claims filed in the past two weeks, the total could now surpass 15 million. But that number is still probably millions shy of the number of workers who may have already lost their jobs as the economy abruptly shut down. The unemployment claims report for the week ended April 4, is being released at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday. It would be the third in a row to show millions of Americans filing claims. In the previous two reports, a total 10 million workers had filed for state unemployment benefits.

Economists forecast that the unemployment rate will jump into the teens this month, from March's 4.4% level and 3.5% in February. They also estimate anywhere from 10 million to 20 million will show up in the monthly employment report as lost jobs. "In the first wave you saw the first hit was to service workers," said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton. "Leisure was really large but retail is going to be big in the next wave ... all the hundreds of thousands of retailers put workers on furlough." She said more manufacturing workers will also show up, as auto plants shut down production and related industries will also scale back.

In the first monthly employment report since the shutdowns, there was a decline of 701,000 nonfarm payrolls in March, and 479,000 were in the leisure industry, which includes restaurants, hotels and other travel services or entertainment related businesses. Restaurants were among the first businesses to close or downsize after President Donald Trump told Americans to stay out of restaurants and bars in mid-March. Soon after came the retail closings, as states issued stay-at-home orders. Those closings have been sending ripples across the country. Mall owner Simon Properties, for instance, said on March 31 that it was furloughing 30% of its workers as some shuttered retailers and restaurants were expected to hold off on April rent.

In the retail sector itself, Macy's, which employed 130,000, said it was moving to an absolute minimum of workers needed to keep its basic operations going. Gap also said it was furloughing the majority of its workers in the U.S.and Canada, or roughly 80,000. Nordstrom, L Brands, Urban Outfitters and Ascena were among the many retailers to announce they were furloughing workers. In addition, thousands of small, independent shops across America have shut down.