translated from Spanish: Nearly 22 million Americans have been out of employment since starting a coronavirus emergency

The wave of layoffs that has engulfed america’s economy since the outbreak of the new coronavirus forced 5.2 million more people to go in search of federal unemployment aid last week, the government reported Thursday. With the new figure, nearly 22 million people have applied for unemployment benefit in the last month — by far the worst recorded recorded recorded run of job losses in the United States. In total, approximately 12 million people currently receive unemployment checks, almost equalling the maximum point reached in January 2010, shortly after the end of the Great Recesion period.All businesses considered non-essential have been closed almost every state, while the economy practically fell apart. The widespread loss of jobs has altered the vast majority of economic branches. Some economists predict that unemployment could even reach 20% in April, representing the highest rate since the Great Depression of the 1930s. By comparison, national unemployment never exceeded 10% during the 2008 Grand Recess.Layoffs go beyond service branches such as hotels, bars and restaurants, which absorbed the initial impact of job cuts, including white-collar worker positions, including programmers, construction workers, and sales personnel. Collectively, job reductions could lead to epic-scale unemployment. Up to 50 million posts are exposed to cessations related to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to economists: about one-third of all positions in the United States. That figure is based on an estimate of the jobs that federal and state governments consider non-essential and cannot be done from home. All such workers are unlikely to be dismissed or apply for unemployment aid, but it indicates the extraordinary extent of unemployment that could result from the spread of the disease.” This crisis combines the scale of a national economic recession with the pace of a natural disaster,” said Daniel Zhao, Glassdoor’s economist. “And that is unprecedented in American economic history.” Some law firms have also been forced to reduce their staff. Fern Weinbaum, 68, worked as a secretary at a law firm in Manhattan, and was fired in March. She has not received the money from unemployment insurance, which she has to help her pay her monthly income of $1,100.” I’m very anxious, I need the money,” he said. “It’s very frustrating.” In most people, the new coronavirus causes mild to moderate symptoms that disappear in two to three weeks. In some people, for all older adults and those with underlying health disorders, it can lead to more serious diseases, such as pneumonia, and even death.

Original source in Spanish