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U.S. Economy in Freefall As Jobless Claims Exceed 30 Million and GDP Plummets

April 30th, 2020

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released its report on GDP growth for Q 1 of 2020. The numbers were dismal, negative 4.8 percent. Though this was the worst decline experienced by the American economy since 2008, at the height of the Global Financial crisis, it was merely a harbinger of much worse to come. It must be recognized that the impact of the demand destruction inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic only began to emerge in the last two weeks of Q1.

A more telling pointer of whist to expect in Q2 was the latest jobless claims report issued by the U.S. Labor Department. According  to the report, an additional  3.8 million American workers filed unemployment claims. Cumulatively, this means that during the past 6-weeks more than  30 million U.S. workers have filed jobless claims. In other words, over a period of only six weeks, the U.S. unemployment rate has skyrocketed from 3.5 percent to more than 18 percent. This is an unprecedented rate of accelerated employment contraction. Not even during the Great Depression has the American economy witnessed such appalling statistics.

The collapse of the job market in the United States brings with it a radical contraction in aggregate demand. This would point to the Q2 report showing that, at a minimum, the nation’s GDP will  shrink by more than 20 percent, and possibly as high as 40 percent.

The collapse of the world’s largest economy at unprecedented velocity is only a reflection of a global economic implosion. The Global Economic Crisis will linger after the health crisis  created by the coronavirus has receded. This is indeed the Great Depression of the 21st century.

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