Worst monthly job destruction since government started counting in 1948

In just two months, our national shutdown to prevent the coronavirus pandemic from overwhelming our medical system has catapulted our unemployment rate from 3.5% to 14.7% — from the lowest to the highest levels ever recorded since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began surveying the figure monthly in 1948.

The BLS, which uses data from the middle of the month, conservatively counted 20.5 million jobs lost in April. By its own admission, because it did not include the unusual number of workers who were absent from work due to “other reasons” in the unemployment rate, that figure really could be some 5 percentage points higher.