U.S. retail sales endured the biggest drop in history in April, plunging 16.4 percent as the coronavirus pandemic shuttered businesses around the country and forced residents to stay at home.

It was the second straight month of declines for the industry as the virus outbreak forces American life to come to a grinding halt and marks the steepest decline since March, when they plunged 8.7 percent. The government began tracking retail sales in 1992.

Economists surveyed by Refinitiv forecast a decline of 12 percent.

The report came as millions lost their jobs. In the two months since the virus paralyzed the economy, more than 33 million Americans have filed for first-time unemployment benefits, a rate unseen since the Great Depression. Officially, the unemployment rate is 14.7 percent -- the highest on record -- but economists have suggested it's likely more than 20 percent. Read more at FOX Business