Unemployment in US Unseen Since Before the World War-II

The United States had registered 16 Million Layoffs in the past three weeks as the coronavirus pandemic brought the US economy to a standstill. More than 6.6 million Americans lost their jobs last week. Layoffs that started in the restaurant and leisure industries have now spread to include manufacturing, construction, and even healthcare.

Economists of the country expect the unemployment rate to be at 15% or higher which is never seen since before the Second World War. California, New York, Michigan, and Florida in that order are the highest in terms of unemployment. During the recession in 2008, unemployment reached close to 10%.

Unemployment is expected to rise further in the coming weeks. Some economists are hopeful of a sharp bounce back but that will depend on government action and a coherent plan to safely reopen the economy. As of now, the Government had been pumping money into the economy at regular intervals but until the mayhem is finished, we do not arrive at a clear picture.

The Number of Cases is inching towards the 5,00,000. The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model earlier predicted 82,000 fatalities by August 4th but now it scaled down its projection to more than 60,000 which will come as a relief.