Visitors to the Department of Labor are turned away at the door by personnel due to closures over coronavirus concerns on March 18, 2020, in New York.
Credit: John Minchillo/AP

The US Department of Labor sent guidance to state labor agencies on Wednesday, asking them to hold off on releasing unemployment claims data earlier than the regularly scheduled national report on initial claims, according to a state labor agency.

The department asked state officials in an email Wednesday to only “provide information using generalities to describe claims levels (very high, large increase)” and keep the exact figures under embargo until next Thursday, according to The New York Times, which obtained the email.

“States should not provide numeric values to the public,” Gay Gilbert, the administrator of the department’s Office of Employment Insurance, wrote in the email, the Times reported.

Government figures already show that Americans are starting to lose their jobs in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Before the pandemic hit the US, initial unemployment insurance claims were […]