The coronavirus recession is shaping up to be the biggest blow to the U.S. economy since the Great Recession, and fears are rising that it could take years to reverse the damage, especially for millions of Americans who are losing their jobs and businesses.
The past two weeks have wiped out all the economy’s job gains since President Trump’s November 2016 election, a sign of how rapid, deep and painful the economic shutdown has been on American families struggling to pay rent, prescriptions, food and health insurance in the middle of a pandemic.
More than 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment insurance benefits last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, on top of the 3.3 million claims from the week before. Such numbers have never been seen in U.S. history and reflect the widening closures and shelter-in-place orders that have put the economy in a deep freeze to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
