According to the latest figures from the US Labor Department (as of 14 May), 36.5 million American citizens have filed unemployment claims over the past eight weeks since the coronavirus crisis effectively forced the shutdown of large parts of the United States economy.

The figures have been devastating; the Bureau of Labor Statistics said earlier in May that total non-farm payroll employment had fallen by 20.5 million in April with employment “falling sharply in all major industry sectors.”

The overall unemployment rate shot to 14.7 percent in April, the worst figures on record since monthly jobless statistics began to be compiled in 1948. The Washington Post noted that the single-month job loss statistics represented the wiping out of a whole decade of labor market growth and was roughly equivalent to the total rate of job destruction experienced by the US during the 2007-09 financial crisis.

Trump facing calls to reopen US economy

The brunt of the unemployment crisis has fallen on unskilled and temporary workers, unauthorized immigrants and those working in the gig economy: Uber and Lyft have both taken a pounding as people have stopped using car services in favour of their feet during a two-month nationwide lockdown that is only now starting to be slowly eased.

The government of US President Donald Trump has faced criticism for pushing to reopen the country prematurely with experts warning of the potential effects on an already hard-pushed health sector if the drive to kick-start the economy leads to a further spike in Covid-19 cases. As of 20 May the US had recorded over 1.5 million cases of the novel coronavirus with over 90,000 fatalities across the country.

However, many citizens have backed Trump’s stance on opening the US for business again as quickly as possible with the White House’s stimulus check programme providing only temporary relief for many of those households eligible to receive the payment.

Illinois Policy has warned that there will be insufficient funding to see the state’s unemployment program past the end of May while others like Florida have struggled to meet the demand for federal benefits from workers in the gig economy, contractors and the self-employed.

US set for Great Depression-era peak - Goldman Sachs

Things are likely to get worse before they get better: Goldman Sachs issued a warning earlier in May that the unemployment rate in the US could peak at 25 percent in 2020, more than at the very height of the Great Depression when the annual jobless figure stood at 24.9 percent in 1933.