The Labor Department has released its unemployment statistics for the month of April, and it's ugly. The economy lost 20.5 million jobs, and the official unemployment rate rose by 10.3% to 14.7% for the month of April. And that is likely an undercount, since the rate is figured by a survey done in the first two to three weeks of the month. We can expect the statistics for May to be even worse.
It did not have to be this bad. If the Trump administration had acted when first notified of the impending pandemic (in late December or early January), the virus could have been contained and the economy would not have suffered nearly as much. But he didn't, and we now must suffer through the worst recession in decades.
Here are the relevant statistics for April.
SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN WORK FORCE:
156,481,000
OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
23,078,000
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
14.7%
DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN OF OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT:
Adult men...............13.0%
Adult women...............15.5%
Teens (16-19)...............31.9%
White...............14.2%
Black...............16.7%
Asian...............14.5%
Hispanic...............18.9%
Less than HS diploma...............21.2%
High School grad...............17.3%
Some college...............15.0%
Bachelor's deg. or more...............8.4%
