The U.S. economy lost 20.5 million jobs in April, taking payroll employment back to levels last seen in spring 2011 when the economy was recovering from the Great Recession, and the unemployment rate jumped by a historic amount to 14.7%, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate for white males is 12.4%, the largest for white men in the post-World War II era and the first time it has been in double digits since that era.
Every sector saw job losses in April. The largest losses were in leisure and hospitality (-7.7 million), education and health services (-2.5 million), professional and business services (-2.1 million), retail trade (-2.1 million), manufacturing (-1.3 million), other services (-1.3 million), government (-980,000), construction (-975,000), transportation and warehousing (-584,000), wholesale trade (-363,000), financial activities (-262,000), information (-254,000), and mining (-46,000).
In April, unemployment rates rose among all major worker groups. The rate was 31.9% for teenagers, 18.9% for Hispanics, 16.7% for blacks, 15.5% for adult women, 14.5% for Asians, 14.2% for whites and 13.0% for adult men. The rates for all of these groups, except black Americans, represent record highs in the history of this measure.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) declined by 225,000 in April and accounted for 4.1% of the unemployed, as a sign of discouraged workers.
This blog originally appeared at AFL-CIO on May 8, 2020. Reprinted with permission.
About the Author: Kenneth Quinnell is a long-time blogger, campaign staffer and political activist. Before joining the AFL-CIO in 2012, he worked as labor reporter for the blog Crooks and Liars.
