Covid-19 impact: US unemployment rate surges to 14.7%, the worst since 1948

As the US lost over 20 million jobs in a pandemic-induced economic spiral during April, its unemployment rate zoomed to nearly 15 per cent

Due to the coronavirus-induced crisis, the unemployment rate in the United States jumped from 10.3 per cent to 14.7 per cent in the month of April, in the largest over-the-month increase since 1948.

The unemployment rate of 14.7 per cent is the highest seen since the Great Depression.

"In April, the unemployment rate increased by 10.3 percentage points to 14.7 per cent. This was the highest rate and the largest over-the-month increase in the history of the series (seasonally adjusted data are available back to January 1948)," the US Labor Department said in its monthly jobs report.

In a pandemic-induced