According to the U.S.Department of Labor, the number of Americans applying for unemployment
benefits has increased sharply over the past week. In fact, the authorities
report the initial jobless claim to be around 281,000 in the week ending March
14. It is also the highest recorded level since Hurricane Harvey caught America
in 2017.
Unfortunately, the government anticipates that this is just the
beginning and thing can get worse in the coming days as many companies are following
mass layoffs due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The NewYork Times also reported more than 600,000 jobless claims in 15 states this
week. This indicates that the nationwide total could be way above million. In this
regard, David Choi, an economist at Goldman Sachs says that the numbers can jump
to over 2.25 million by the end of this week – as the damage from coronavirus
grows.
Infographic by: www.statista.com
