JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri unemployment claims last week more than doubled from an already staggering surge, rocketing up to 104,230 as the nation’s workforce reeled from the effects of social distancing meant to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

In Illinois, initial claims leaped to 178,133 last week, up 56% from the 114,000 claims filed for the week ending March 21.

Nationally, the unprecedented economic shutdown sent unemployment numbers crashing through another weekly record, with 6.6 million people filing for jobless benefits. The week before, 3.3 million people had filed for unemployment, already a giant increase from what had been a humming job market. A year before, just around 211,000 people had filed for unemployment, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday.

In Missouri, weekly claims had been running between 3,000 and 5,000 for much of the year before shutdowns and stay-home orders prompted employers to begin shedding workers as the nation hunkers down for another month or more to fight the virus. The state’s claims shot up to 42,200 the week of March 21, and rose 146% last week, as stay-at-home orders in the state’s largest metro areas took affect, according to numbers released by the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Thursday.