More than 5 million of people across the United States lost their jobs in the past week, according to Department of Labor figures released Thursday, another crushing blow to the country’s working and middle classes, as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic spread throughout the economy.
The number of newly out-of-work people adds to the nearly 17 million people who lost their jobs in the previous three weeks, as the nation’s unemployment systems continue to be overwhelmed and unresponsive. The unemployment rate for the week ending April 4 was 8.2%, the Department of Labor said.
The unemployment also adds to other bleak economic indicators that came out this week. Retail sales suffered their worst plunge in nearly 30 years of tracking with an 8.7% slump in March. U.S. manufacturing output also plummeted by 5.4% in March, with worse numbers sure to come in April, the first full month where social distancing measures have been implemented.
Earlier this week, Goldman Sachs predicted that advanced economies like the U.S. could shrink by as much as 35% in the second quarter.
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Cover: In this April 14, 2020, file photo, Hillsborough County Library Service employee Stephen Duran, right, hands unemployment paperwork to residents at the Jimmie B. Keel Regional Public Library in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
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