US jobless rate is highest since Great Depression
"The US unemployment rate hit 14.7 per cent in April, the highest rate since the Great Depression, as 20.5 million jobs vanished in the worst monthly loss on record. The figures are stark evidence of the damage the coronavirus has done to a now-shattered economy. The losses reflect what has become a severe recession caused by sudden business shutdowns in nearly every industry. Almost all the job growth achieved during the 11-year recovery from the Great Recession has now been lost in one month."
The following is also a useful related article https://time.com/5833555/us-unemployment-aid-coronavirus/
33 Million Americans Have Filed for Unemployment Since Start of Coronavirus Outbreak
Nearly 3.2 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week as the business shutdowns caused by the viral outbreak deepened the worst U.S. economic catastrophe in decades. Roughly 33.5 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the seven weeks since the coronavirus began forcing millions of companies to close their doors and slash their workforces. That is the equivalent of one in five Americans who had been employed back in February, when the unemployment rate had reached a 50-year low of just 3.5%.
Australian unemployment has also risen sharply since the COVID-19 crisis started.
And so we have already seen extended queues at Centrelink, as the newly unemployed line up for social security benefits.
