More than 117,000 Kentuckians filed for unemployment last week — breaking the commonwealth's short-lived record as part of the 6.6 million Americans who submitted jobless claims as coronavirus-spurred economic woes continue.

The 6,606,000 national total released by the U.S. Department of Labor Thursday morning represents a slight decrease from the 6,867,000 unemployment filings from the previous week.

With the 117,135 Kentuckians in Thursday's report, more than 275,000 residents from the Blue Grass — about 14% of the commonwealth's workforce — have filed for unemployment over the past three weeks. For the week ending on March 28, 113,149 people in the commonwealth submitted jobless claims. The week before, there were a total of 49,023 filings.

Since the pandemic hit Kentucky in March, Gov. Andy Beshear has announced a number of changes to the state's unemployment system:

Waiving the seven-day waiting period to obtain unemployment insurance benefits

Work search requirements also waived while the state of emergency is in effect

Weekly benefits raised by $600

Number of weeks a person can receive benefits is raised to 39 weeks

State allowed to expand work share/short-term compensation programs

The $600 added to each person’s total weekly payment amount, allocated to Kentucky by the federal CARES Act, should be sent out starting on Thursday evening, Beshear announced during a Wednesday press briefing.

In order to counter the rise in jobless claims, federal economic relief will have to expand, said Jason Bailey, head of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank.

"The depth of joblessness keeps surpassing forecasts," Bailey wrote in a tweet Thursday morning. "Federal economic relief will need to be deeper and longer-lasting than what has passed Congress so far."

Across the Ohio River, Indiana saw a slight decrease in the number of residents to submit new jobless claims. For the week ending on April 4, 133,639 Hoosiers filed for unemployment — down by more than 5,000 from the 139,174 the week prior.

'Please try your call later.' Will Kentucky fix its unemployment filing headache?

Workers across the country are feeling the impacts of business closures, as the number of unemployed persons rose by 1.4 million to 7.1 million in March, according to a report from the Department of Labor. The country's unemployment rate increased by 0.9 percentage point to 4.4 percent — the largest over-the-month increase in the rate since January 1975.

More information:How to file for unemployment in Kentucky, who is eligible?

Also:How unemployment works in Kentucky during the coronavirus pandemic

The number of people who filed for unemployment benefits for the week ending April 4 hovered right around economists' projections. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg recently estimated the Labor Department would report Thursday that 5.5 million Americans filed initial applications for unemployment insurance last week.

Meanwhile, Michelle Meyer, chief U.S. economist of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, predicted the latest initial claims total Thursday will be 6.5 million, and JPMorgan Chase estimated an all-time-high of 7 million.

By the end of May, Meyer predicted that there will be 15 million to 20 million more job losses, pushing unemployment to 15% from the current 4.4%. Oxford Economics projects 26 million layoffs and a 16% jobless rate over the next two months.

In the Greater Louisville area, KentuckianaWorks, the local workforce development board, is working to help recently furloughed employees search and apply for new jobs. The organization put up a list on its website with companies hiring, which has attracted more than 10,000 views, and is offering online career workshops as well as virtual 1-on-1 coaching.

"Our job in general is to steer people toward jobs where we know the demand looks like it's going to be strong and where we think there are good career-building opportunities," KentuckianaWorks Executive Director Michael Gritton recently told The Courier Journal.

"This is such an unusual circumstance, because we're purposely shutting down big chunks of the economy," he added. "It's not like this is a business cycle where people are experiencing the ups and downs of something like the oil business or the banking business."

How to apply for unemployment

In Kentucky, go to: kcc.ky.gov. If you need help, call 502-564-2900 or email UIassistance@ky.gov. For technical assistance, call 502-564-7979.

You also must file on a certain day of the week, based on your last name. Sunday, A-D; Monday: E-H; Tuesday: I-L; Wednesday: M-P; Thursday: Q-U; Friday: V-Z or anyone else who missed their assigned day

In Indiana, go to ind.gov/dwd. You can also reach the Department of Workforce Development at AskUIContactCenter@dwd.IN.gov or 1-800-891-6499.

USA TODAY reporer Paul Davidson contributed to this article.

Contact Ben Tobin at bjtobin@gannett.com and 502-582-4181 or follow on Twitter @TobinBen. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: subscribe.courier-journal.com.