Coronavirus batters US economy as 6.65m file for unemployment last week

The US now faces the sharpest rise in unemployment in its history, a surge that is already highlighting income inequality across the nation and comes as the global economy goes into a nosedive that is likely to exacerbate the situation in the months ahead. Advertisement

“We are at the mercy of the virus,” said William Rodgers, former chief economist at the US Department of Labor. Rodgers calculates US unemployment, 3.5% in February, has already reached 17% in just two weeks and that rates for African Americans have soared to 19% from 5.8%.

The Guardian, April 2, 2020