The White House said that thirty million people could be put out of work because of the situation with COVID-19. However, those numbers have not only been reached, but surpassed as now CNBC reports that thirty-three million people are out of work.
Unemployment rolls continued to swell in the U.S. last week, though jobless claims hit their lowest level since the economy went into lockdown made to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
First-time filings for unemployment insurance hit 3.17 million last week, bringing the total to 33.5 million over the past seven weeks, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The total was slightly higher than the 3.05 million expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones and below the previous week’s 3.846 million, which was revised up by 7,000.
Though the numbers remain stark, it was the lowest total since the second week of March, shortly after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus strain a pandemic. (source)
The total working population of the US is approximately 155 million people. This means that over 20% of the population is out of work.
Likewise, remember that employment is calculated by those receiving checks, not from those who are out of work and not receiving a check.
Things are not good for the US right now, and it is possible the unemployment situation will get a lot worse.
This will not have a good ending.