A BanklessTimes.com analysis shows that COVID-19 increased America’s unemployment rate to 14.7%. It’s also some 7% higher than that recorded in World War 2.
Unemployment arose from business closures, layoffs, and furloughs. The number of unemployed Americans could be higher as Pew Research Center estimates the figure to be 16%.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that the outbreak rendered 20.5M Americans unemployed in February 2020. That was an upswell of more than 14M from the 6.2M it had recorded.
Which were the worst affected sectors?
Topping the list of worst affected sectors was Leisure and Hospitality. Here, unemployment peaked at 39.3% in April 2020, later recovering to stand at 9%.
Retail and Wholesale followed with highs of 23% in April 2020, that dropped to 4.9% in July 2021. Likewise, Construction had highs of 16.6% and lows of 6.1%.
Education and Health Services had highs and lows of 10.9% and 4.1%, respectively. Transportation and Utilities’ highest figures were 13.2% and its lowest at 4.2%.
COVID-19 unemployment affected gender and race
The pandemic affected women more than men, with the number of jobless women growing by 14.3%. That was 2.4% more women than men who lost their jobs.
Moreover, the crisis affected more African American men than those of the other races. It jumped their level of joblessness by 15.8%.
The unemployment rate for Hispanic males was 15.5%. In contrast, those for Asian and Caucasian men stood at 13.3% and 9.7%, respectively. Similarly, Hispanic women (19.5%) had the highest unemployment rate among their peers.
Immigrants had it rough too
Immigrants saw their unemployment metric swell to 15.7%. That contrasts with the 12.4% that affected U.S born employees.
A significant portion of them are young and likely to lack a college education. Besides, many are unauthorized laborers increasing their susceptibility to job cuts.
Get the full story here: Covid-19 unemployment at 14.7% cost the US more jobs than any other crisis
