COVID-19:
The Impact on Unemployment
How the coronavirus decimated America's job market
How the coronavirus decimated America's job market
The coronavrius outbreak made America's job market go from 100 to zero in the blink of an eye. Stay at home orders issued by states and local governments all over the country have frozen the economy, resulting in a record number of Americans filing for unemployment. As the death toll rises, some Americans have to make a very important decision. Risk getting the virus, or risk losing their home?
In such unprecedented times, many Americans are wondering what will happen to life as they know it. Much like the notion of a "post 9/11" world, Americans are preparing for a "post coronavirus world." As we navigate these uncharted waters one thing is for certain, the effects of COVID-19 are being felt through many industries. Even if you're not in the service industry, companies in all different sectors are laying off, furloughing, and reducing hours for employees. Many Americans are left wondering if they will have a job to go back to. For many, as their jobs are taken, so are important benefits like health insurance. As the health and economic fates of Americans is on the line, some states have decided to lift restrictions, taking the risk to pull up the economy by its bootstraps. Meanwhile, many of the nations top scientific leaders warn of a second wave of the coronavirus.
*Category sizes are based on whether the area ranked among the top, middle or bottom third of subsectors in total employment in February 2020.
With a never-before-seen sudden rise of unemployment claims, states are scrambling to set up resources for the sheer amount of calls and website visits to various unemployment offices. For example, the Texas Workforce Comission (TWC) took 14 million calls from April 6th-10th, with a shattering 3.4 million calls in a single day. For context, Cisco Gamez, a spokesman for the Texas Workforce Commission said that the average call load is typically 13,000 calls per day. Trying to combat the unforseen rise in claims, TWC has hired an additional 1000 employees and set up 15 additional computer servers for online applications. Due to unemployment centers being swamped and slow rollouts of pandemic assistance, many economists are saying that unemployment is being drastically underreported.
*Based on weekly unemployment claims data as of April 30, 2020.
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