You’ve probably seen articles where all jobs created since the great recession have been destroyed.
Current unemployment numbers aren’t as bad as they seem, though, because the current numbers are artificially inflated:
1) The most obvious reason – we voluntarily shut down the economy! What did people expect? Joe’s Pizza Place didn’t just decide it couldn’t afford to pay its employees and fire them. Customers didn’t just decide they didn’t like Joe’s pizza anymore. Once covid19 is past us, Joe’s business will be back to full power. Maybe not 100% the day the stay-at-home orders are lifted, but it will get there.
2) The less obvious reason – the government adjusted the unemployment formula which makes unemployment more attractive than working. Instead of unemployment aiming to give 40% of their previous earnings, it now gives 40% plus a flat $600/week! That $2,400 extra a month means a lot of workers will make more from unemployment than staying on as an employee. Congress knew that would happen and went forward with it. So, companies did a little mental math to see which outcome was better for their workers; continuing to pay employees through a ppp loan or laying them off and letting them file unemployment. That led to many applying for unemployment that normally wouldn’t. 22m people didn’t lose their jobs. A good portion of those were tactical decisions to make more money.
As an example, a California resident making $30,000 a year, or $2,500 a month, would now make $3,552 a month through unemployment ($1,152 standard unemployment benefit plus $2,400 covid bonus). Unemployment will give that person a 42% raise for a next few months. Try it yourself here.
That $600/week goes through July, by the way. Good luck getting the economy going when rank-and-file workers refuse to take a pay cut by getting off unemployment benefits early.