Unemployment has reached an all-time high since The Great Depression.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the economy has continued to take hits, with the U.S. unemployment rate jumping to 14.7 percent in April, a new record high, unseen since the Great Depression. Our last report on unemployment, just one week ago, showed 30 million job losses in the span six weeks. This job loss has pushed the economy into a recession worse than 2007-09 era, and what’s more, it’s the worst job decline since the 1930s.
These latest stats come from the U.S. Department Labor in a report on how stay-at-home orders have impacted the economy. Now, jumping from 30 million, there is an estimated 33.5 million Americans without jobs.
The report also reveals that women and minorities have been the hardest hit, with about 16.95% women in the labor force being jobless since February, and about 16.7% Black Americans becoming unemployed. These groups make up a large part the service sector, which has been hit particularly hard. Specific industries that have lost a significant amount jobs include the leisure and hospitality industry, which lost 7.6 million jobs in April alone, over half which were from eating and drinking establishments that remain closed across the country due to the outbreak.
The unemployment rate is expected to rise even more in May, and the year is expected to conclude with an unemployment rate 11.4 percent; and then remain around 10 percent through 2021, according to the Congressional Budget Office.