U.S. Looking at 32% Unemployment, 34% Collapse of GDP

April 1, 2020 (EIRNS)—New projections made public yesterday by the St. Louis Federal Reserve make it clear that, as with the COVID-19 death toll, the worst is yet to come on the unemployment front in the United States. CNBC reported that

“Economists at the Fed’s St. Louis district project total employment reductions of 47 million, which would translate to a 32.1% unemployment rate, according to a recent analysis of how bad things could get.... Millions of Americans already have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus crisis and the worst of the damage is yet to come, according to a Federal Reserve estimate.”

The week ending March 21 saw a record 3.3 million Americans file initial jobless claims; an estimated 2.65 million more filed last week, bringing the two-week total in the range of 6 million.

Goldman Sachs shares the St. Louis Fed’s general reading, forecasting “a far deeper slump than previously anticipated as the coronavirus pandemic hammers businesses, causing a wave of mass unemployment,” Yahoo reported. Goldman expects U.S. GDP to crash by an annualized 34% in the second quarter of 2020. GDP does not reflect the actually physical economy, which will undoubtedly collapse by a far greater proportion, unless the Wall Street speculative frenzy is stopped dead in its tracks.