Another 4.4 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending April 18, making total layoffs since virus hit to 26 million people, Labor Department reported Thursday.

In the week ending April 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 4,427,000, a decrease of 810,000 from the previous week's revised level. 

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 11 percent for the week ending April 11, an increase of 2.8 percentage points from the previous week's unrevised rate. This marks the highest level of the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate in the history of the seasonally adjusted series, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Though weekly jobless filings remain very high, last week's data marked the third straight weekly decline, raising hopes that the worst may be over. Weekly claims appeared to have peaked at a record 6.867 million in the week ended March 28.

Nonetheless, the report adds to a growing pile of increasingly bleak economic data. It also comes amid rising protests against nationwide lockdowns to control the spread of COVID-19, the potentially lethal respiratory illness caused by the virus.

Last week's claims report covered the period during which the government surveyed business establishments for the nonfarm payrolls component of April's employment report. Economists are forecasting as many as 25 million jobs were lost in April after the economy purged 701,000 positions in March, which was the largest decline in 11 years.

(With input from Reuters)