A man checks information in front of Illinois Department of Employment Security in Chicago, Thursday, April 30, 2020. Another 3.8 million people filed claims for jobless benefits last week, according to the Labor Department. While that's down from the previous week's 4.4 million, a staggering 30.3 million have applied for unemployment in the six weeks since the coronavirus began taking a wrecking ball to the U.S. job market. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
By Josh Boak
U.S. businesses cut an unprecedented 20.2 million jobs in April, an epic collapse with coronavirus outbreak closing the offices, factories, schools, construction sites, and stores that propel the U.S. economy.
The Wednesday report from payroll company ADP showed the tragic depth and scale of job losses that left no part of the world's largest economy unscathed. The losses will likely continue through May, with a recovery in hiring likely to begin in the months that follow, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.
"This is one for the record books," Zandi said. "The good news is that we're at the apex of the job loss."
Even though Zandi expects hiring to resume in June as states ease lockdowns, he cautioned that it will be a "slog" over several years to recover all the jobs lost in April.
The private industry report comes two days ahead of the official monthly job figures from the U.S. Labor Department. Economists believe the Friday report will reveal unemployment in the U.S. stands at a shocking 16%, up from 4.4% in March.
According to ADP, the leisure and hospitality sector shed 8.6 million workers last month. Trade, transportation, and utilities let 3.4 million people go. Construction firms cut nearly 2.5 million jobs, while manufacturers let go of roughly 1.7 million people. The health care sector cut 1 million jobs, but education services eked out a gain of 28,000 as colleges and universities do not appear to have forced significant layoffs that could come later this year.
More than half of April's job losses came from smaller companies with 500 workers or fewer. But larger employers cut 8.9 million jobs. Polling by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates that nearly eight in 10 households that suffered job losses expect to return to their previous employer.
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
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