The coronavirus has destroyed America’s job market, and there is no immediate relief in sight. This interactive data project from NBC News shows just how devastating the sudden employment losses are, and which US states have been hit the hardest.
“I compare it to a natural disaster, a terrorist attack and a financial shock all at once,” said Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. “We’ve never had this in history.”
California was the first state to issue a stay-at-home order and has seen the greatest number of job losses. In a state with an estimated labor force of 19.5 million, 2.2 million Californians have filed unemployment applications since March 14.
But the torrent of claims is coming from everywhere. Twenty-one states and territories have seen more than one-in-10 eligible workers file for claims in the last month. Hawaii, Michigan, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania have seen the largest percentage of cuts, with 1-in-6 workers in each of those states losing their jobs.
Comparing the weekly claims reported by the Department of Labor to the same period a year ago shows that while job losses have hit every state and territory, the damage has been unique to each region.
Go play with the interactive chart and bum yourself out EVEN MORE while you look for a new job:
The coronavirus has destroyed the job market in every state
[NBC News, Nigel Chiwaya and Jiachuan Wu, April 14, 2020]
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PHOTO: “Bowery men waiting for bread in bread line,” New York City, Bain Collection Public Domain. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Collections.
