Unemployment Hits 14.7%, Highest Since Depression

May 8, 2020 Coronavirus, Employment

The U.S. economy lost an unprecedented 20.5 million jobs in April and the unemployment rate soared to 14.7 percent, up from 4.4 percent in March after months at a half-century low, according to the monthly employment report, released Friday by the Department of Labor.

In just over a month, the coronavirus has wiped out all job gains since the Great Recession and brought the country’s decade-long record economic growth streak to an abrupt halt. “This is the biggest and most acute shock that we’ve seen in post-war history,” said Michelle Meyer, head of U.S. economics at Bank of America.

April’s staggering jobless total is more than 10 times that of the previous unemployment record of 1.96 million, set in September 1945, when American soldiers returned home after World War II.

BREAKING: A record 20.5 million jobs were lost in April as unemployment rate jumps to 14.7%https://t.co/6kfZmF58o2 pic.twitter.com/Zw7eantfDM

— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) May 8, 2020

BREAKING: Unemployment hits 14.7%, highest rate since the Depression, as U.S. shed 20 million jobs in April from viral outbreak. https://t.co/ZXGyHmNyv5

— The Associated Press (@AP) May 8, 2020