Department of Labor Releases New Jobless Claim #s: 16.78 million in 3 weeks.

New numbers just released: 6.61 million new claims for the week ending April 4, with last week’s 6.65 million revised up to 6.87 million.* That’s 16.78 million filing new jobless claims in 3 weeks. And because the unemployment % is put out mid-month and April’s figure will be released in early May for the period ending April 12, my math puts the ‘real’ current unemployment rate in the 17-18% range as of this post. We peaked at 24.9% during the Great Depression. It is difficult to envision a scenario where we don’t get to 30%+ unemployment range sometime in June. I pray I’m wrong, but the math is what it is.

Consumer spending is 70% of our GDP. So unemployment will have a disproportionate impact on real GDP. Tough choices need to be made now to avert catastrophic realities later.

*https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-09/third-week-of-big-u-s-jobless-claims-sees-6-61-million-filings?srnd=premium