Washington — More than 5-million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total in the month since the coronavirus pandemic throttled the US economy to 22-million and effectively erasing a decade’s worth of job creation.

Initial jobless claims of 5.25-million in the week ended April 11 followed 6.62-million the prior week, according to the US labour department figures on Thursday. The median estimate of economists was for 5.5-million, with projections ranging as high as 8-million...