WASHINGTON: US job losses from the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic reached 22 million in the past month, according to new data on Thursday, as President Donald Trump is expected to unveil plans to re-open the world’s largest economy.
Amid business shutdowns and restrictions ordered to stop the spread of Covid-19, government data continue to show the growing economic damage.
Another 5.2 million workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, according to the Labor Department’s weekly report, slightly less than the previous week but still a shocking figure.
A separate report from the Commerce Department detailed the damage to the housing market, with homebuilding slowed sharply in March, while a Federal Reserve report showed plunging manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region, echoing similar reports elsewhere.
New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams warned it will probably take “a year or two,” if not longer, for the US economy to recover its strength.
“Unfortunately, this is a situation where I think the economies can be underperforming for some time,” he said in a video conference organised by the Economic Club of New York.
The jobless data underscored his prediction, even though the increase was smaller than the prior week, perhaps indicating the wave of layoffs had reached a high point. - AFP