The current epidemic of COVID-19 has caused a significant rise in jobless claims, rising in one week from 211,000 to 281,000, or a one-third increase in a week according to CNBC.
Jobless claims rose to 281,000 last week, reflecting only the first indications of the impact the coronavirus will have on the U.S. employment picture.
That number reflected a significant rise from last week’s 211,000, which was unrevised from the initial estimate, according to the Labor Department. It was the highest number since Sept. 2, 2017.
The department said the numbers were “clearly attributable to impacts from the COVID-19 virus. (source)
I warned before that work was going to become scarce.
All of these people, while collecting unemployment checks, do not count the total number of unemployed, which is going to be much higher.
Work is going to be hard to find because of the same fundamentals before now aggravated by the situation, which is a shrinking pool of work and too many people available than there is work.
This will exacerbate poverty and have ongoing consequences for the country.
If you want work, start looking now because it may not be available for long, and what is there will be taken quickly.