PUBLISHED FRI, MAY 8 20208:30 AM EDT UPDATED MOMENTS AGO
Nonfarm payrolls fell by 20.5 million in April and the unemployment rate rose to 14.7%, both post-World War II records.
Economists had been expecting a loss of 21.5 million jobs and the unemployment rate to surge to 16%.
The “real” unemployment rate, which includes workers not looking for jobs and the underemployed, surged to 22.8%.
The impact of the coronavirus-induced economic shutdown tore through the U.S. labor market in April at historic levels, slashing 20.5 million workers from nonfarm payrolls and sending the unemployment rate skyrocketing to 14.7%, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Both numbers easily smashed post-World War II era records and help reflect the profound damage done through efforts used to combat the virus.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting payrolls to shed 21.5 million and the unemployment rate to go to 16%. April’s unemployment rate topped the post-war record 10.8% but was short of the Great Depression high estimated at 24.9%. The financial crisis peak was 10% in October 2009.
The bleak numbers paint a “pretty dismal picture, but April may be it for job losses going forward with the country starting to reopen,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank. “If there is a silver-lining in today’s dismal jobs report, it is in the realization that the economy cannot possibly get any worse than it is right now.”
Twitter:Data on Non-Farm Payroll
A record 20.5 million nonfarm payroll jobs were lost in April