Tens of Millions of Unemployed
Speaking of data, Thursday morning brought the sobering but unsurprising news that US initial jobless claims had jumped to a mind-boggling 3.3 million from just 211,000 two weeks ago. If there were any doubt whether recession is here, this should dispel it. We are in a crisis worse than 2008. Some are already calling it a “Depression” and they may be right.
Let me put the number in an even scarier light. Many who lost jobs either aren’t eligible for benefits, or haven’t applied because they think they aren’t eligible, or tried to apply and couldn’t. I suspect the real number of newly unemployed is well north of 10 million and will climb over the next few weeks. Having 20 million unemployed is possible if these lockdowns persist.
No comments:
Post a Comment