When you see or hear the number, it's staggering.
26 million.
26 million people in the U.S. have filed for unemployment aid in the last five weeks because coronavirus has impacted their jobs.
Those are numbers we haven't seen since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
The economic shutdown as a result of the effort to control and contain the spread of the virus has sparked a backlash in some communities, with protests and rallies demanding that the restrictions be lifted and businesses be allowed to reopen to help ease the strain on the economy. Officials in states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, South Carolina,Texas and parts of California, have announced the easing of some restrictions allowing public spaces like beaches and parks to reopen provided social distancing guidelines are followed, or to allow businesses like gyms, salons and bowling alleys to slowly reopen to customers.
But the question is whether or not we will fully see an economic impact as severe as the Depression, where unemployment peaked at 25%. Most economic experts believe it will not get that bad, but they do expect to see an unemployment rate at or higher than what we saw in the 2008-2009 recession, which peaked at 10%.