[Mick]

I saw a statistic that, of the households in the US making under $40K/yr, 40% of the individuals in those households have lost their jobs.

Right, that was Jay Powell, chairman of the Fed. About 35% of all households make under $40k annually, so it is hitting them disproportionately hard.

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...to be 2.5 million by the standard group of economists, raising total number of initial unemployment claims to 36 million poor souls who have lost their means to pay for rent, food and other luxuries in the last eight weeks.  

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-joble...ent-2020-5

My guess is the 2.5 million is low, and the prior week's report will be revised upward.  Again.  

I was right, the 2.5 million initial unemployment claims last week was absurdly low. The actual number was 2.981 million, off by almost half a million. This brings the eight week total of initial unemployment claims to about 36.5 million. Current employment rate is 51.3%, down from 60.0% at the end of March. Labor force participation rate down to 60.2% of all working age adults, down from 63.4% at the end of March. Technically, the unemployment rate at the end of April was 14.7%. Add another 6 million initial jobless claims in May (to date), and the current rate is closer to 19%.

36.5 million jobs lost, or about 428 lives ruined for every life lost to the coronavirus. Add the fact that typically two other people depend on those people for revenue to pay the bills, and you have about 1,283 lives harmed for every life lost.

[Mick]

I saw a statistic that, of the households in the US making under $40K/yr, 40% of the individuals in those households have lost their jobs.

Right, that was Jay Powell, chairman of the Fed. About 35% of all households make under $40k annually, so it is hitting them disproportionately hard.

---

...to be 2.5 million by the standard group of economists, raising total number of initial unemployment claims to 36 million poor souls who have lost their means to pay for rent, food and other luxuries in the last eight weeks.  

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-joble...ent-2020-5

My guess is the 2.5 million is low, and the prior week's report will be revised upward.  Again.  

I was right, the 2.5 million initial unemployment claims last week was absurdly low. The actual number was 2.981 million, off by almost half a million. This brings the eight week total of initial unemployment claims to about 36.5 million. Current employment rate is 51.3%, down from 60.0% at the end of March. Labor force participation rate down to 60.2% of all working age adults, down from 63.4% at the end of March. Technically, the unemployment rate at the end of April was 14.7%. Add another 6 million initial jobless claims in May (to date), and the current rate is closer to 19%.

36.5 million jobs lost, or about 428 lives ruined for every life lost to the coronavirus. Add the fact that typically two other people depend on those people for revenue to pay the bills, and you have about 1,283 lives harmed for every life lost.