The coronavirus employment crisis deepened on Monday when tens of thousands of US retail workers at companies including Macy’s, Gap and Kohl’s were told that they would be temporarily laid off.

In a dark day for the US labour market, a series of the country’s largest chains that employ more than 420,000 people between them warned they had to put workers on a leave of absence without pay as extended restrictions to contain coronavirus would keep stores closed longer than previously thought.

Clothing chain Gap, which has about 129,000 staff worldwide, said pay would be “paused” for most store workers in the US and Canada while its stores remained closed. The department store group Macy’s also said it was furloughing most of its 125,000-strong workforce.