As expected, the latest job report is nothing to cheer about. According to the stats from the US Department of Labor, a record 20.5 million jobs were lost over the month of April alone. This equates to a post World War II record of a 14.7% unemployment rate. Ten years of job gains have been essentially wiped out over the last few months. The devastating report is a result of the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis that has brought the business of the nation to a halt.

Beating Expectations

Despite the bleak picture, the one sliver of hope is that the numbers actually beat the expectations. According to a Dow Jones survey, financial experts had expected the number of job losses to spike to 21.5 million with unemployment reaching 14.7%. Average hourly earnings rose almost 5% compared to data from last year. However, experts caution that the record number is a result of job losses in the lower-wage industries skewing the averages. As of Friday afternoon, the US stock market is surprisingly seeing gains on the heels of the jobs report. The reason for the gains is being attributed to the numbers beating the expectations.

Looking at the Numbers

Not surprisingly, the tourism and service industry experienced the most significant losses. This sector accounted for 7.7 million job losses. Of this number, 5.5 million were restaurant and bar workers. Those in the education and health services industries lost a combined 2.5 million jobs. Professional and business services and retail experienced 2.1 million job losses. The manufacturing industry saw 1.1 million losses while government positions dropped 980,000. Construction saw a loss of almost one million jobs as many states mandated that non-essential building come to a stop. The job losses were especially hard for women and minorities. This is a result of their prevalence in the industries that have been most affected by the economic shutdown.

States Hit the Hardest

According to the latest numbers, the three states that have filed the biggest number of unemployment claims are Georgia, Kentucky, and Hawaii. The reasons for the spike in claims in each state are all different.

• Hawaii - It is no surprise that Hawaii would bear the brunt of job losses as a state that depends so heavily on the tourism industry. Hawaii government officials acted swiftly in the early days of the pandemic, mandating that visitors self-quarantine for 14 days when arriving in the islands. This move essentially shut down the tourism business completely. Over the course of the past seven weeks, 210,429 Hawaiians filed initial claims for unemployment benefits. This number is over 30% of the March labor force. The steady force in Hawaii at the moment is the luck that 20% of the workforce is employed by the government.



• Kentucky - Unemployment claims over the last seven weeks are also well above 30% of the workforce in the state of Kentucky. 671,288 Kentuckians filed initial claims during that time period. Kentucky is struggling largely as a result of its heavy reliance on the manufacturing industry. It is simply impossible to do these jobs from home, taking the option of telecommuting off of the table for a large portion of the workforce. Both Ford and Toyota were forced to lay off 20,000 workers in mid-March. These Kentucky plants are hopeful to reopen by the end of May.



• Georgia - Almost 1.6 million Georgians filed for unemployment benefits over the same period, accounting for over 31% of the state's population. While Kentucky and Hawaii are able to point to two specific industries that have been hit hard, the layoffs in Georgia appear to be spread through a variety of job sectors. Industries that have been affected include transportation and logistics, educational services, trade, and construction. Prior to the onset of the pandemic, Georgia had been enjoying a historically low unemployment rate of 3.1%.

The speed of which the job market has unraveled is unprecedented. The devastating picture is not likely to improve anytime soon. While many states have begun the slow process of opening up for business once again, economists caution that it will take a significant amount of time for the economy to rebound and recover.