The Labor Department said Friday that the economy shed more than 20.5 million jobs in April, sending the unemployment rate to 14.7 percent — devastation unseen since the Great Depression.
The report underscores the speed and depth of the labor market's collapse as the coronavirus pandemic took a devastating toll. In February, the unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, a half-century low. And even since the survey was taken, millions of people have filed claims for jobless benefits.
The April job losses alone far exceed the 8.7 million in the last recession, when unemployment peaked at 10 percent in October 2009. The only comparable period came when the rate reached about 25 percent in 1933, before the government began publishing official statistics.
If anything, the report understates the damage. The government's definition of unemployment typically requires people to be actively looking for work. And the unemployment rate doesn't reflect the millions still working who have had their hours slashed or their pay cut.
Many of the unemployed said they had been temporarily laid off and expected to return to their jobs. But the joblessness that began with layoffs in the leisure and hospitality industry has extended throughout the economy, from manufacturing and retail industries to white-collar redoubts like business services, meaning it will take longer for the labor market to recover.
But in an interview on Fox News on Friday, President Trump predicted the economy would come roaring back after the "artificial" closing.
"Those jobs will all be back and they'll be back very soon," Mr. Trump said, "and next year we're going to have a phenomenal year."
New York Times, May 8, 2020
###
May 8, 2020
Voices4America Post Script. Sadly, "this report understates the damage." These numbers may be you, your friends, relatives, neighbors. I am thinking of you all. Today is the first day of #TrumpDepression
Here is what the Associated Press says.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. unemployment rate hit 14.7% in April, the highest rate since the Great Depression, as 20.5 million jobs vanished in the worst monthly loss on record. The figures are stark evidence of the damage the coronavirus has done to a now-shattered economy.
The losses, reported by the Labor Department Friday, reflect what has become a severe recession caused by sudden business shutdowns in nearly every industry. Nearly all the job growth achieved during the 11-year recovery from the Great Recession has now been lost in one month.
The report indicated that the vast majority of April's job losses — roughly 90% — are considered temporary, a result of businesses that were forced to suddenly close but hope to reopen and recall their laid-off workers. Whether most of those workers can return to their jobs anytime soon, though, will be determined by how well policymakers, businesses and the public manage their response to the public health crisis.
The collapse of the job market has occurred with stunning speed. As recently as February, the unemployment rate was a five-decade low of 3.5%, and employers had added jobs for a record 113 months. In March, the unemployment rate was just 4.4%
https://apnews.com/623da121a91a4951b3bcde201a46120d
