By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- The U.S. economy shed over 20 million nonfarm jobs in April, the biggest monthly drop ever, vividly illustrating the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Nonfarm payrolls fell 20.5 million from March -- compared with a forecast of a drop of 21 million -- according to Labor Department data Friday, as government-mandated shutdowns and the prospect of slumping consumer activity forced firms to lay off workers in droves.
That comes after a decline of 871,000 in March, a figure revised from an initially estimated drop of 701,000, when an historic 113-month run of employment growth ended. The figures eradicate - if only temporarily - all the jobs created since the end of the Great Recession a decade ago.t
The jobless rate jumped to 14.7%, a post war high, from 4.4% last month. The broader U6 measure of under-employment rose to 22.8% from 8.7% a month earlier.
More than 33 million Americans have sought unemployment benefits in the past seven weeks. Restrictions such as stay-at-home orders and social distancing aimed at mitigating the spread of the virus have crippled business activity.
The data will likely add to the enormous pressure on states to reopen, even though the number of new coronavirus cases is still climbing in many parts of the country.
The BLS's data showed that the job losses had hit lower-paid Americans hardest.
"The vast majority of jobs losses were in the low wage (and low hours sectors)." Dan Alpert, managing partner of Westwood Capital, via Twitter. He noted that 18.1 million of the 20.5 million of jobs lost were production and non-supervisory.