Unemployment in the US will reach the levels of the Great Depression in

Washington: Kevin Hassett, the senior economic advisor from the United States, warned ‘The situation in the United States is grim. Nobody should make a mistake of ignoring it. The US economy is in waiting for the biggest and strongest jolt of the century. A major unemployment crisis of a magnitude equal to the 1929 Great Depression will grasp the country.’ In the last five weeks, 26 million US citizens have filed claims of unemployment. This statistic is more than 16% of the jobs available in the United States. This figure of unemployment had reached up to 25% during the 1929-30 Great Depression.

The US economy has taken a direct hit of the Coronavirus pandemic. The businesses have been permitted to operate on an essential and restricted basis because of the outbreak. Therefore, the governors responsible for the states and entrepreneurs have indicated that there is no scope for the US economy to get an impetus. Against this background, the warning issued by senior economic advisor Kevin Hassett becomes significant.

US Secretary for Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, also has stated that it will be at least July or August before the US economy turns around. In an interview with the news channel Fox News, Mnuchin said that USD 1 trillion is being pumped into the US economy in an effort to bring it back on track. Reports have been published that the US Congress has sanctioned USD 500 billion in aid, on Friday.

As per a projection made in a report published by the US Congress group, the US GDP will slide by 5.5% by the end of 2020, and the rate of unemployment will be @12%. Whereas Brian Moynihan, Chairman and CEO of Bank of America, has said that it will be the end of next year by the time the US economy comes back into its original state.

Only a few days ago, economist Martin Wolf and Chris Rookie had pointed out that the unemployment levels in the United States are indicating a Great Depression. The Great Depression had hit the United States and the world between 1929 and 1933. The Great Depression was triggered by the stock market crash in the United States. The global growth rate had been negative during that period.