The astounding pace at which Americans filed for unemployment over the past two weeks has wiped out nearly half the total number of jobs added to the economy over the last decade since the financial crisis.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has sent employers scrambling as forced business closures spell a massive hit to revenues and a dire need to again cut costs until the disease passes and governments feel comfortable resuming commerce.

Initial jobless claims numbers released Thursday by the Labor Department showed a record 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. The latest report added to the prior week's numbers, which showed that 3.3 million Americans filed for unemployment during the week ended March 21.

Combined, that means about 10 million Americans filed for unemployment in the final two weeks of March, nearly halving the 24.8 million the U.S. economy added between February 2010 and February 2020.

That 10 million spike in jobless claims also exceeds the 8.7 million claims filed by Americans during the Great Recession from peak to trough.