Over 26 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits since the beginning of the outbreak of coronavirus

The number of Americans fired from jobs because of the pandemic of mers continues to grow — last week, 4.4 million workers have applied for unemployment benefits.

According to the latest data released by the labor Department on Thursday, April 23, about 26 million people applied for benefits. This means that about one in six Americans have lost their jobs due to the fact that the economy was virtually halted by the global pandemic in mid-March.

«It was indeed a devastating shock for many families and small businesses, said Aaron sojourner, an economist at the University of Minnesota. Is out of their control and not their fault».

A huge number of job cuts caused by power outages and restrictions of the coronavirus that triggered the worst economic crisis since the great depression.

Some economists suspect that the volume of production in the country could be reduced in two times as it was during the economic crisis 10 years ago. Also, according to forecasts, the unemployment rate this month could rise to 20%.

About 843 937 Americans are infected with coronavirus, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. The USA is the world leader in the number of confirmed cases. The mortality rate in the country is also the highest among other countries.

Source