U.S. now has 22 million unemployed, wiping out a decade of job gains

Last week, 5.2 million people filed unemployment claims, bringing the total to 22 million in the four weeks since President Trump declared a national emergency.

More than 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment aid since President Trump declared a national emergency four weeks ago, a staggering loss of jobs that has wiped out a decade of job gains and pushed families to flood food banks as they await government help.

Last week, 5.2 million people filed unemployment insurance claims in the week ending April 11, the Labor Department reported Thursday, making it among one of the bigger spikes, although smaller than the 6.6 million people who applied the week before and the record 6.9 million people who applied the week that ended on March 28.

The United States has not seen this level of job loss since the Great Depression, and the government is struggling to respond fast enough to the deadly coronavirus health crisis and the economic crisis triggered by shutting down so many businesses.

The eye-popping job losses in the past month have erased virtually all of the 22.8 million jobs gained from February 2010 to February 2020 during the rebound from the Great Recession.

A growing number of economists warn that recovering from the “Great Lockdown” is going to take a long time, and millions of Americans are likely to remain out of a job through the end of the year. Even after parts of the economy reopen, unless there is widespread testing or a vaccine, people are going to remain fearful of venturing out again to restaurants or offices, many experts say.

A quarter of Michigan workers have filed for unemployment aid

In addition to health concerns, Americans typically slash their spending when they see widespread job losses and pay cuts among their friends and family members, another issue likely to prevent a rapid recovery.