The repercussions of the global financial shock, centered in the United States in 2008, on the job market and US aid requests, were only a fraction of the consequences imposed by the Coronavirus 2020.
An Anadolu Agency survey, based on US Labor Department data, shows that the highest rate of new jobless claims in the US market during the global financial crisis was recorded on February 19, 2009, with 667,000 new applications.
However, this figure is 10 times less than the highest number recorded by the US market for the rate of aid applications at the end of last March, which amounted to 6.86 million new aid requests.
One of the most prominent consequences of the global financial crisis in the US market is the collapse of companies, banks and mortgage institutions in the United States, most notably Lehman Brothers and Bank of America, and severe losses for the insurance giant American International Group. American International Group).
However, the Coronavirus crisis has disrupted various aspects of the American economy and its sectors, with few exceptions for the pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical sectors, which resulted in wide layoffs.
The United States leads the world in terms of the number of cases with 5.6 million cases, including 173,000 deaths, followed by Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Spain, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Support requests rise
On March 20, the number of new applications for unemployment benefits began to rise sharply in the United States, with 3.3 million people registering applications in need of financial assistance.
The number recorded at the end of last March was the largest in the history of the United States, with 6.86 million individuals registering new applications for unemployment benefits, down to 6.6 million individuals at the beginning of last April.
During the entire month of March 2020, the number of new aid applications in the United States reached 10.66 million, the highest monthly number in US history to date.
Last April, the US House of Representatives approved an additional increase of $ 600 for recipients of unemployment benefits, bringing the total benefit to $ 972 per week per person.
In the second week of April, the number of new applications for unemployment benefits decreased for the second time in a row, to 5.23 million individuals, then 4.44 million new applications in the third week of the same month.
And in the whole of April 2020, the number of jobless claims broke the previous figure recorded in March, by registering 20 million new applications, according to US Labor Department data.
The downward trend in the number of aid requests continued during last May, with new applications recorded during the whole of that month, 10.8 million new applications, and 7.8 million new applications in June.
While the total number of new applications last July reached 5.46 million new applications, and 3.5 million new applications during the first half of this month.
Unemployment fluctuations
Earlier this month, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics said that the unemployment rate in the United States fell by less than a percentage point (0.9 points) to 10.2% in July, from 11.1% the previous month.
This means that the number of unemployed decreased by 1.4 million to 16.3 million people, while the number of unemployed people who were temporarily laid off decreased by 1.3 million in July to 9.2 million.
The number of people working part-time increased by 803 thousand to 24.0 million, and the number of people working part-time for economic reasons - whose working hours were reduced due to the slowdown in the business and trade sectors - decreased by 619 thousand to 8.4 million people.
The unemployment rate in the United States peaked at 14.7% in April, in light of restrictions that crippled the largest economy in the world during the first wave of the Corona pandemic.