The jobs report came out today and it puts the unemployment rate at 4.4% after the economy shed 700k jobs:
JUST IN: March jobs report: 700K jobs lost; unemployment rate rises to 4.4% via
BLS-Labor Statistics@BLS_gov— KTVU (@KTVU) April 3, 2020
4.4% doesn’t sound all that bad, but many are pointing out that this doesn’t reflect the massive job losses we’ve seen in the last two weeks. Rather, these numbers point to about three weeks ago.
The actual unemployment rate, which includes the last two weeks, is much higher:
BREAKING: US economy lost 701,000 jobs in March, ending 113-month streak of job gains that began in late 2010.
Unemployment rate = 4.4% (highest since Aug. 2017)
**This data does NOT include most of the ~10 million layoffs from past two weeks**
True unemploy rate likely 10%
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) April 3, 2020
CNN’s business correspondent says the unemployment rate is more likely 10% to 13% right now.
— John Aravosis 🇺🇸 (@aravosis) April 3, 2020
The answer: The unemployment rate today — on April 3 — is 13%, it’s highest level since the Great Depression. pic.twitter.com/5kkS7Ttf4j
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) April 3, 2020
I think it’s likely around 13% at this point as the econ professor above notes. I seem to remember Trump saying in one of his briefings that it could go as high as 20%. With the explosive amount of unemployment claims we’ve seen in the last couple weeks, we’ll probably get there in the next two weeks.
US employment pic.twitter.com/YLklsrFriu
— James Pethokoukis (@JimPethokoukis) April 3, 2020