US firms lay off more than 20 million workers as coronavirus pushes country to brink

Unemployment in one of the world’s greatest economy is expected to reach its highest rate since the Great Depression. The hospitality and leisure sector has been the worst hit with more than 16 million people losing their jobs. This is down to the coronavirus lockdown forcing the closure of all restaurants and cafes.

Trade, transportation and utilities were also badly hit with 3.44 million people coming off the payroll.

This comes as more than 26 million people in the US have registered as unemployed since the middle of March.

Americans aged between 20 and 24 and over 65 have made up for the biggest majority of people who had been laid off as businesses struggled to cope with the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak in the US.

The US has been the worst affected country of COVID-19 and more than 72,000 people have died as a result of catching the virus.

The Bank of America forecasts the unemployment rate will have jumped to 15 percent in April from 4.4 percent in March, ahead of the US Labour Department’s official report on Friday.

This is the worst series of job losses on record in the US.

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In 2008 835,000 people lost their jobs because of the recession.

Policymakers at America’s central bank have said the pandemic is “causing tremendous humans and economic hardship across the United States and around the world”.

Chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, Mark Zandi, said: “This is off the rails, unprecedented.

“The economy has just been flattened.”

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Moody’s Analytics has said that the most important thing in the next few months is to see how well the economy bounces back.

Before coronavirus hit and unleashed chaos across the globe, the US economy was expected to grow by two percent this year.

The Bank of America said the payroll losses will be mainly in the states which have the most jobless claims.

This would mean more losses in California, Pennsylvania and New York.

More than 30 states started to open, at least partially, for business over the last week.

President Donald Trump is desperate to get the US economy going as he runs for a second term as President later this year.

 

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