(Fighting new crown pneumonia) New crown epidemic kills more than 6.6 million people in the US
China News Agency, Washington, April 2nd. The US Department of Labor released a report on the 2nd that in the last week of March 2020, more than 6.6 million people in the United States applied for unemployment benefits, a number that doubled a week ago.
The report said that as of the week of March 28, a total of 6.648 million people in the United States had applied for unemployment benefits for the first time, more than double the 3.307 million people in the previous week. As of the week of March 21, the number of first-time jobless claims in all US states increased.
The US government has announced that it has entered its third week to implement the "social distance" epidemic prevention guidelines. As of now, at least 30 states have entered a "major disaster state" due to the epidemic, and more and more state and local governments have issued "home orders" to prevent the epidemic from spreading.
Applying for unemployment benefits usually reflects the rate at which companies are laying off workers. In the past two weeks, the number of unemployed in the United States due to the new crown epidemic has approached 10 million. The Washington Post quoted Aaron Sojna, an economist at the University of Minnesota, as saying, "The unemployment rate in the United States over the past two weeks has been comparable to the two years during the 2008 financial crisis."
US President Trump signed a $ 2 trillion economic stimulus bill at the White House on March 27 in response to a new crown of pneumonia outbreak. The bill includes measures to significantly increase unemployment insurance and support paid leave.
The Labor Department report also showed that in the week ending March 28, the number of unemployed in California (878,000) and New York (366,000), where the epidemic was severe, had increased fourfold from a week ago.
The Associated Press described the report as "shocking." It cited economists' predictions that as many as 20 million Americans could be unemployed by the end of April. Unemployment rate in March may soar to 15%, higher than the record high of 10.8% during the severe recession of 1982.
At present, large-scale department stores such as Macy's Department Store and other companies have announced suspension of business, and thousands of employees have been forced to suspend their jobs. The US chain theaters and professional sports leagues have also suspended operations indefinitely due to the outbreak.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University in the United States on April 2 at 11:00 am, more than 217,000 people in the United States have been infected with new coronary pneumonia, and 5,151 people have died.
With the number of diagnoses and deaths rising further, the US Congress is discussing a new round of outbreak assistance bills. "Capitol Hill" pointed out that this shows that the United States so far outbreak relief measures are still insufficient. (Finish)