Unemployment in Perspective: The Great Lockdown of 2020

[NUance]

 

Historic U.S. Job Losses in Perspective

By Jeff Desjardins    Published 6 days ago on April 17, 2020    www.visualcapitalist.com  

 

These Charts Put the Historic U.S. Job Losses in Perspective.  When recessions hit, it’s not unusual to see millions of jobs lost.

Such episodes are a regular part of the business cycle and when they occur, most businesses do their best to tough things out. Then, as time progresses, it gradually becomes clear that spending must be curtailed, budget cuts must be made, and workers must unfortunately be sent home.

 

This economic process normally takes months, or even years, to unwind.  But, the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a wrench into the economic status quo, creating a situation that is incomparable to any previous downturn. Instead of a gradual economic transition to slower growth prospects, business operations have suddenly screeched to a halt with no clear window to resume.

Beyond Comparison

The Great Lockdown of the economy has been completely unprecedented, both in terms of the speed of the shutdown and its impact on jobs.  As a result, the statistics being released are completely surreal. Perhaps the best example of this is number for initial jobless claims in the U.S., which tops 22 million over the last four weeks.   LINK

 

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There is a chart in the article showing the worst months for job losses in the past 50 years.  This past month was over 4X worst than any other employment crisis.  

 

 

 

 

[TGHusker]

Highest since Great Depression.   

 

I wonder if Trump tries to start a war wt Iran  as a distraction

 

https://apnews.com/e928d091f81f75b9bc8830c7370f41fb

 

[NUance]

36 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

Highest since Great Depression.   

 

I wonder if Trump tries to start a war wt Iran  as a distraction

 

https://apnews.com/e928d091f81f75b9bc8830c7370f41fb

 

 

Let's hope not.  

 

That's a good article, btw.