Coronavirus in the United States: more than 20 million private jobs destroyed in April

Text by: RFI Follow

According to the monthly report by the American business consultancy ADP, the closings of businesses to stem the coronavirus pandemic caused the destruction of more than 20 million private sector jobs in the United States in April.

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Economists expected such a drop, but its magnitude is unprecedented. As a result of containment measures to stem the pandemic of new coronaviruses, work in the private sector collapsed in April with 20,236 million jobs lost. The figures are all the more worrying as they relate only to the first twelve days of the past month.

In April, job losses affected all categories of businesses. Small (less than 50 employees) lost some 6 million jobs, medium-sized enterprises 5.26 million and large companies (more than 500 employees) 8.96 million. More than 40% of these positions belong to the leisure, catering and hotel sectors. In services, 16 million people lost their jobs.

The shock is violent and will leave deep scars on the American economy. Experts from the consulting firm ADP believe that the job losses this April are reaching the worst levels of the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The Ministry of Labor will release monthly unemployment figures on Friday. Economists are already expecting 28 million jobs lost in the private and public sectors combined.

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• Employment and Work
• United States
• Coronavirus