OREANDA-NEWS. Unemployment rate in the United States renewed 80-year high record, reaching 14.7 % in April compared with 4.4 % in March. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the US Department of Labor, this is the highest unemployment rate in the country since the Great Depression. In April, American residents lost 20.5 million jobs.

Since the introduction of quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic in the country, more than 33 million citizens have applied for financial assistance. In many regions of the USA, 25 % of able-bodied residents are unemployed.

However, earlier analysts expected even deeper fall in the number of jobs. The portal Trading Economics predicted 22 million lost jobs and a jump in unemployment to 16 % due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to The Wall Street Journal, the first figure was estimated to be 21.5 million, the second – also 16 %.