Another 3.8 million Americans applied for unemployment relief last week, marking more than 30 million people who are jobless across the country. In the week ending April 18, at least 280,406 Texans applied for unemployment relief.
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At least 1.3 million Texans have filed for unemployment since mid-March as the energy industry has been battered by the low price of oil and officials have limited business operations to stop the spread of the new coronavirus.
The number of Texans who sought unemployment last week is expected to be released later Thursday, one day before Gov. Greg Abbott's plan to slowly reopen commerce in the state goes into effect. But as restaurant, retail and movie theater workers could be called back to work starting Friday, Texas isn't yet allowing those workers' children to go to licensed child care centers, which currently can only serve the children of "essential" workers.
This is a developing story and will continue to be updated.