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Unemployment in the US since the Coronavirus Outbreak
The growing level of national problem like unemployment remains one of the region’s domestic case which challenges youths in our era. Covid-19 is among the natural disasters or epidemics that dictate the speed of economic waves in the market. Unemployment has been a significant challenge resulting from Covid-19. In the past few weeks, companies and several firms have been forced to shut down due to the Coronavirus outbreak. The total shutdown was brought about by lockdown directives issued by governments. Companies have, therefore, been forced to downscale their workforce or human labor rendering millions without employment.
This article indicates that Economic forecasts have projected that the end of April, the rate of unemployment in America will jump to a number between 10-20 million if the lockdown continues. The projection was arrived at reflecting on the numbers of unemployment cases reported (3.5%) in February then subsequently 4.4% in March. According to the article, the first wave of job losses primarily affected service workers (Domm, 2020). The Coronavirus pandemic has very adverse effects on economic components such as manufacturing, retail, and production. Retailers have felt an equal share of the terrible impacts of lockdown to counteract the spread of Coronavirus. Since such retailers cannot continue with operations, they have been forced to put employees on leave. Leisure industries such as bars, restaurants, and hotels were among the first businesses to shut down. This was followed by the closure of retail outlets following the stay-at-home order issued by President Donald Trump. If the trend continues, employees working for manufacturing firms will also lose jobs because automobile manufacturing plants are most likely to shut down productions, and related industries will also scale down production.
According to a recent article by Patti Domm, a whooping five million unemployment cases have been reported over the past few weeks of lockdown in the United States (Domm, 2020). It has been projected that if the shutdown continues, the numbers of unemployment claims will escalate to over 15 million. Covid-19 has seen the economy drastically cessation and economic growth decline. The economic shutdown is forcing most companies to squeeze the little funds they have in paying wages for employees who were sent on mandatory leave due to closure. Despite the millions of employment claims reported over the past week, several others have either temporarily or permanently lost their jobs.
Covid-19 pandemic as elicited one of the greatest economic recessions. The economic recession is marked by loss of jobs or increased unemployment, a decline in production, and a drop in the stock market (Duleba, Gonda, Rihmer & Dome, 2012). Additionally, at times like this, even if most employers maintain their previous payroll terms, the employees’ purchasing power is significantly low. Coronavirus pandemic has forced manufacturing companies to either complete shutdown or down-scale their production, meaning therefore that products will be scarce while the demand remains high. High demand for scarce products will promote inflation, and thus affects might affect my purchasing power as a consumer.
I do not agree with the author, where he indicates that all workers put on leave but are still receiving health benefits qualify for unemployment. It does not necessarily mean that employees once put on furlough, then they are unemployed. Employment can either be on a full-time or part-time basis. Under most employment contract terms, furlough does not always translate to termination of one from work. This view may help employees who have read the article.
References
Domm, P., 2020. 5 Million More Unemployment Claims Expected, But Layoffs Are Now Broader And Could Be More Permanent. [online] CNBC. Available at: <https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/08/five-million-more-unemployment-claims-expected-but-now-layoffs-could-be-more-permanent.html> [Accessed 11 April 2020].
Duleba, T., Gonda, X., Rihmer, Z., & Dome, P. (2012). Economic recession, unemployment and suicide. Neuropsychopharmacologia Hungarica: a Magyar Pszichofarmakologiai Egyesulet lapja= official journal of the Hungarian Association of Psychopharmacology, 14(1), 41-50.