Breaking News
Number of Americans Seeking Unemployment Aid Jumped by 5.25 Million Last Week
With the coronavirus pandemic persisting, the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits increases. The number jumped by 5.25 million last week.
Fox Business reported that that brings total claims over the four weeks (until April 11th) to nearly 22 million workers. This erases the “entirety of labor market gains since the 2008 financial crisis,” as per the report. It added that prior to the pandemic, the largest number of Americans to seek unemployment aid in a four-week period was 2.7 million in 1982.
The unemployment rate is now close to 13 percent. This exceeded the 10 percent peak during the Great Recession more than a decade ago. It also exceeded the post-World War II high of 10.8 percent in 1982.
Unemployment and Recession
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The “Great Lockdown” will “push the global economy into the worst recession since the Great Depression,” economists warned.
“The torrent of unemployment claims is the result of the ongoing shutdown of non-essential businesses, but the 22-million-job question looming over the labor market is whether these layoffs will be temporary or permanent.”
Fox Business reported that many states saw notable increases in unemployment last week. California's employment dropped by 257,848, Michigan decreased by 169,234 and Pennsylvania fell by 39,283.
According to James Knightley, chief international economist at ING Financial Markets, “Even if the economy starts to re-open in mid-May, more than 20 million Americans will have lost their job with the economy likely having contracted around 13% peak-to-trough, more than three times deeper than the global financial crisis.”
“It will be a gradual re-opening of the economy, so a return to ‘business as usual’ is many months away. Throw in crippling financial losses and a legacy of defaults and it means we estimate U.S. economic output won’t return” to the late-2019 peak until mid-2022 at the earliest, Knightley said, as reported by Bloomberg.
Fox Business reported that lawmakers are looking to provide relief to laid-off workers with a $2 trillion stimulus package.
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