COVID-19: Virus-triggered layoffs in US hit nearly 39 million

The number of Americans thrown out of work since the coronavirus crisis struck two months ago has climbed to nearly 39 million, the government said Thursday.

More than 2.4 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week in the latest wave of layoffs from the outbreak that has triggered nationwide business shutdowns and brought the economy to its knees, the Labor Department reported. That brings the running total to a staggering 38.6 million.

An additional 2.2 million sought aid under a new federal program for self-employed, contractor and gig workers, who are now eligible for unemployment benefits for the first time. Those figures aren’t adjusted for seasonal variations, so they are not included in the overall number of applications.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the unemployment rate could peak in May or June at 20% to 25% a level unseen since the depths of the Great Depression in the 1930s.

As of April, unemployment stood at 14.7%, a figure also unmatched since the era when President Franklin D. Roosevelt was assuring Americans that the only thing to fear was fear itself.

The breathtaking downturn unprecedented in its speed has turned up the pressure on politicians to lift the lockdowns that are destroying businesses and livelihoods.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the economy is shrinking at a 38% annual rate in the April-June period, by far the worst quarterly contraction on record.