The U. S. unemployment rate reached a record 14.7 percent in April as unprecedented job losses continue under the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
The U. S. unemployment rate hit a record 14.7 percent in April as state and local lockdowns over the Wuhan coronavirus continue to land millions out of work each week since the pandemic began to take its toll in mid-March.
The new jobs report released Friday shows the steepest decline in job losses ever seen since the government began recording the national unemployment rate in 1939 as an unprecedented 20.5 million jobs fell victim to the public health pandemic. The highest rate up to this time had been 10.8 percent in 1948 with the most jobs lost in any single month having been nearly 2 million in 1945.
