U.S. unemployment rate approaches Depression-era levels

U.S. job losses for the month of April hit a shocking new high, as the U.S. unemployment rate rocketed up to 14.7% - the highest level in this country since 1940 - the year after the end of the worldwide Great Depression.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report on Friday showed employment fell by 20.5 million in April. The agency said the changes “reflect the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and efforts to contain it.”

The latest wave of job losses deepen the country's economic woes. The lockdowns have thrown a total of 33.5 million Americans out of work in seven weeks.

According to an Associated Press analysis, around 75% of the workers who lost their jobs in April consider their job losses "temporary." Some of the worst-hit sectors include leisure and hospitality, trade, transportation and utilities and education and health services.

A nationwide poll by Washington Post-Ipsos found 77% of the Americans surveyed believe they will be rehired by their former employers once stay-at-home orders are lifted.

That may prove over-optimistic. Research from the Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics at the University of Chicago estimates that 42% of the recent layoffs will result in permanent job losses.

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