Transcript
The coronavirus pandemic is costing many people their jobs.
Last week’s jobless claims spiked to 281-thousand Americans, the highest level in two and a half years.
That’s a jump of 70-thousand from the week before, and 60-thousand claims more than economists had expected.
This sudden jump marked a 33-percent increase, the largest since 1992, in terms of percentage.
To put it in perspective, that’s more than what happened in any week during the Great Recession.
Layoffs are expected to worsen significantly as businesses downsize due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The administration has argued unemployment could reach 20-percent without the president’s economic relief package.
Until very recently, the US was at a historically low level of three-point-five percent unemployment.
Posted – 3.20.20