Almost 17 million Americans are unemployed as Japan rate soars
● World leaders appeal for stay-athome Easter as economy teeters
A staggering 16.8 million Americans have been thrown on to the unemployment rolls in just three weeks, underscoring the terrifying speed with which the coronavirus outbreak has brought world economies to their knees.
It comes as world leaders and health officials fervently warned the hard-won gains made against the scourge must not be jeopardised by relaxing social distancing during the Easter weekend – one of the busiest travel times of the year in Europe. Authorities across the continent banned holiday travel and set up roadblocks.
A spike in deaths in New York and surges of reported new infections in Japan and in India’s congested cities made it clear the battle is far from over.
New York state reported 799 more deaths yesterday – its third straight day of recordhigh fatalities. More than 7,000 people have died in the state, accounting for almost half the US death toll of around 15,000. “That is so shocking and painful and breathtaking, I don’t even have the words for it,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said, though he added there were hopeful signs, including slowdowns in the number of people being hospitalised.
Numbers released yesterday by the world’s largest economy showed 6.6 million American workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, on top of more than ten million in the two weeks before that.
That means more than one in ten US workers have been forced out of a job since the crisis took hold – the biggest, fastest pile-up of job losses since record-keeping began in 1948.
The real numbers could be even higher because state unemployment offices around the country have been overwhelmed with claims. Some people have been unable to get through by telephone or on the websites.
The US unemployment rate in April could hit 15 per cent – a number last seen at the tail end of the Depression.
In many European countries, where the social safety nets tend to be stronger than in the US, government programmes that subsidise workers’ pay are keeping millions of people on payrolls in places like Germany and France, though typically with fewer hours and at lower wages. Such workers are not counted in the countries’ unemployment figures.
New Zealand police warned people not to drive to holiday homes over Easter and risk arrest, while Lithuania moved to lock down major cities. Portugal halted commercial flights and set up checkpoints on major roads.
Greece also tightened restrictions ahead of next week’s Orthodox Easter, increasing roadblocks, doubling fines for lockdown violations and banning travel between islands.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggested mass gatherings may be barred through the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which runs from late this month through most of next month.
He urged the Shiite faithful to pray at home. Shiites typically pray together and often hold communal meals during Ramadan. Iran has reported more than 4,100 deaths, although experts suspect the outbreak is worse that that.
Indonesia’s president banned civil servants, police officers, military personnel and employees of state-owned companies from returning to their home towns to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Typically tens of millions Indonesians crisscross the archipelago of 17,000 islands at that time of year.
Prime minister Shinzo Abe has declared a state of emergency, but not a lockdown, in Tokyo and six other prefectures. Companies in the world’s third-largest economy have been slow to embrace working from home, and many commuters jammed Tokyo’s streets as usual.