The U.S. Department of Labor issued a report on Friday that broke down the current employment situation in the United States. According to the report and other figures released by the Department of Labor, the number of unemployed Americans has surpassed the number of unemployed seen during the peak months of the 2008 Great Recession.
According to the report, which cuts off at March 14, around seven million Americans were unemployed. Separate figures from the department that include the weeks left off the report, however, showed just under 10 million Americans had filed for unemployment. The staggering number is made worse when considered alongside other economic figures: at the peak of the Great Recession, over eight million jobs were lost. Previously, the pandemic had erased the "Trump Bump", where the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA) had spiraled so far that it had fallen below January 2017 levels, eradicating all market gains made by the Trump administration. The pandemic has claimed an additional "Trump Bump" by sending unemployment figures skyrocketing above the seven million or so jobs that President Donald Trump had added so far and driving his term's job count into the red.
With unemployment already at record highs, it leaves the obvious question, "what comes next?" Expert speculation ranges somewhat, but many experts aren't particularly optimistic. For example, a senior official at the Federal Reserve believes that the unemployment rate could hit as high as 30%. For comparison, at the peak of the Great Depression in 1933, the unemployment rate was 25%, with 15 million American citizens out of work. Some estimates, like a recent estimate made by the New York Times, report estimates as high as 16-20 million already, which, if true, would mean that the Coronavirus Pandemic has already become a worse economic burden than the Great Depression.
The spike in unemployment has inevitably weighed heavily on the economy. The lack of secure employment has caused a drop in spending power among consumers, and a likewise drop in consumer confidence. The decrease in consumer confidence is also tied to the overall fear of the pandemic, which is keeping consumers indoors and closing stores across the country.