The coronavirus outbreak has thrown at least 22 million Americans out of work in four weeks as tough measures to control the coronavirus outbreak decimates 13.5 percent of the US workforce and 10 years of job growth.
There were 5.2 million new claims for unemployment benefits filed last week, according to the latest Labor Department figures released on Thursday.
The staggering number of first-time claims was on top of the 16.8 million applications filed since the virus took hold in mid-March.
Economists say the unemployment rate could reach as high as 20 percent in April, which would be the highest rate since the Great Depression of the 1930s. While accurate records didn’t begin until 1948, economists say the unemployment rate rose to 25 percent in 1933.
The latest figures released on Thursday mean that about 13.5 percent of the workforce have filed for unemployment in four weeks.
In comparison, unemployment never topped 10 percent during the Great Recession between 2007 to 2009. The latest jobless claim figures show the coronavirus has now wiped out nearly 10 years of job growth since the Great Recession.
Unemployment from the coronavirus collectively constitute the largest and fastest string of job losses in records dating to 1948.
The real unemployment number is likely to be even higher because many states are still clearing out backlogs of unemployment claims after lengthy delays due to the influx of people filing online and via the phone.