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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumsindicate the gathering of a massive wave of unemployment on a scale unseen since the Great Recession
Coronavirus layoffs surge across America, overwhelming unemployment offices
Job-loss projections range up to 4.6 million.
Employers are slashing jobs at a furious pace across the nation due to mass shutdowns over the coronavirus, slamming state unemployment offices with a crush of filers facing sudden crises.
Long before official government data is expected to reveal the depths of the economic shock inflicted by the coronavirus, reports from state officials and businesses around the country indicate the gathering of a massive wave of unemployment on a scale unseen since the Great Recession.
In New Jersey, 15,000 people applied for unemployment benefits on Monday, a twelvefold increase over normal levels. In Connecticut, nearly 8,000 applications arrived over the weekend, an eightfold increase over the norm. Rhode Island officials reported Tuesday a five-day rise in claims due to the coronavirus from 10 on March 11 to 6,282 on March 16.
More than 45,000 Ohio workers have applied for unemployment over the past week, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services told Sen. Rob Portman, a nearly sevenfold increase over the previous week.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/17/coronavirus-layoffs-america-unemployment-134819
ansible
(1,718 posts)Great recession was slower and more gradual with the economic crash, this on the other hand is hitting a wall speeding at 88mph.
meadowlander
(4,399 posts)Just look at Amazon hiring 100,000 people and this thing hasn't even ramped up yet.
There's going to be massive demand for delivery people, cleaners, cooks, childcare for healthcare workers, hospital support staff, construction workers, manufacturers of health care equipment, temps to cover administrators out sick in essential fields.
Society is shifting all of its priorities for a few months but I don't think anyone who unfortunately finds themselves getting laid off should be sweating not being able to find any work at all to help fill the gap.
It's different to 2008 in that there is going to be massive demand for workers, just not exactly in the industries that they might be coming from. It's more like WWII.
parhelion
(49 posts)We have Trump instead of FDR. Prepare for the worst.