US unemployment at levels not seen since the Great Depression
Figures show 20.5m jobs lost as virus prompts worst fall in decades
The us unemployment rate hit 14.7 per cent in April, the highest since the Great Depression, as 20.5 million jobs vanished in the worst monthly loss on record.
The figures are stark evidence of the damage coronavirus has done to a nowshattered economy. The losses reflect what has become a severe recession caused by sudden business shutdowns in nearly every industry.
Nearly all the job growth achieved during the 11-year recovery from the Great Recession has now been lost in one month.
The collapse of the job market has occurred with remarkable speed. As recently as February, the unemployment rate was a five-decade low of 3.5 per cent, and employers had added jobs for a record 113 months, while in March, the unemployment rate was just 4.4 per cent
The government’s report on Friday noted that many people who lost jobs in April but did not look for another one were not even counted in the unemployment rate.
The impact of those losses was reflected in the drop in the proportion of workingage Americans who have jobs just 51.3 per cent, the lowest on record. In addition to the millions of newly unemployed, 5.1 million others had their hours reduced in April.
That trend also means less income and less spending, perpetuating the economic downturn.
A measure of underemployment - which counts the unemployed plus full-time workers who were reduced to part-time work - reached 22.8 per cent, a record high.
Though some businesses are beginning to reopen in certain states, factories, hotels, restaurants, resorts, sporting venues, cinemas and many small businesses are still largely shuttered.
In the five weeks covered by the US jobs report for April, 26.5 million people applied for unemployment benefits. The job losses reported on Friday were a smaller figure because the two are measured differently: the government calculates job losses by surveying businesses and households.
It is a net figure that also counts the hiring that some companies, such as Amazon and many grocery stores, have done.
The figures will add to pressure facing authorities to ease lockdown restrictions and restart the economy, despite concerns this could lead to a second wave of the virus.
China and South Korea have both reported more coronavirus infections after reopening economies damaged by devastating outbreaks.
South Korea’s 13 fresh cases reported on Friday were its first increase higher than 10 in five days. A dozen were linked to someone who visited three nightclubs in Seoul last weekend.
“A drop of ink in clear water spreads swiftly,” vice health minister Kim Gang-lip said, urging vigilance. “Anyone can become that drop of ink that spreads Covid-19.”
After its caseload waned from hundreds a day to a handful daily in recent weeks, South Korea has relaxed social distancing guidelines, scheduled school reopenings and allowed professional sports to resume without fans in the stands.
In China, where coronavirus first emerged, authorities reported 17 new virus cases on Friday, including 16 that tested positive but were not showing symptoms.
No new deaths have been reported for more than three weeks, and just 260 people remain in hospital to be treated for Covid-19.
In the US, some governors are disregarding or creatively interpreting White House guidelines in easing their states’ lockdowns and letting businesses reopen. Analysis found 17 states appeared to have not met one of the key benchmarks set by the White House for loosening up – a 14-day downward trajectory in new cases.