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Real unemployment rate soars past 20%—and the U.S. has now lost 26.5 million jobs

https://fortune.com/2020/04/23/us-unemployment-rate-numbers-claims-this-week-total-job-losses-april-23-2020-benefits-claims/


Another 4.4 million Americans filed initial unemployment claims in the week ending April 18. That's down from 5.2 million the week prior, however it marks the fifth consecutive week over 3 million, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

At the highest of levels of unemployment following the 2008 financial crisis, there were 15.3 million jobless Americans. But in the past five weeks a staggering 26.5 million workers have already filed jobless claims.

Prior to this five-week stretch of 26.5 million initial jobless claims, there were already 7.1 million unemployed Americans as of March 13, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. When the figures are combined, it would equal more than 33 million unemployed, or a real unemployment rate of 20.6%—which would be the highest level since 1934.