WASHINGTON, April 9 — US unemployment is rising at a jarring rate, with data today showing 17 million have lost their jobs since mid-March, as officials scramble to apply a tourniquet to stem the damage from the coronavirus pandemic. The Federal Reserve launched a series of new lending programs...
In this file photo taken on March 03, 2020 US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell gives a press briefing after the surprise announcement the FED will cut interest rates on March 3, 2020 in Washington, DC. — AFP pic
The Fed announcement came at the same time the Labor Department report showed 6.6 million more people filed for unemployment benefits last week, following 6.9 million in the prior week, and 3.3 million in the week ended March 21. The 17 million total unemployed in the US “is just over half the nearly 30 million in job losses we expect to result from the spread of the coronavirus, which would be three times the number of job losses that occurred” during the last recession, Oxford Economics said, projecting the unemployment rate reaching 14 per cent in April and 16 per cent in May.The US government has mobilised to stem the losses, with the Federal Reserve announcing today a new US$2.
The Fed also is backstopping the new Paycheck Protection Program launched last week as part of the massive US$2.2 trillion rescue package the Congress approved late last month. The central bank will buy up all the loans issued by private banks worth up to the full US$349 billion allocated to the program.
Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics said there are signs the initial jobless claims will decline in coming weeks. In Washington, policymakers already are trying to bolster the US$2.2 trillion emergency measures now being implemented.
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