COVID and Jobs Recovery in US – 2.5 million jobs lost through 2021 according to survey

The number of jobs destroyed by the U.S. economy’s crisis-driven sudden stop could top 4.5 million, according to the median estimate of 45 forecasters surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics.

Fewer than 2 million of those positions will be recovered by the end of 2021, the economists expect, pushing the unemployment rate above 6 percent for the next 21 months in a massive blow to a labor market that had been considered among the best for workers in decades.

“Panelists believe that the U.S. economy is already in recession and will remain in a contractionary state for the first half of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic severely restricts economic activity,” said NABE President Constance Hunter, chief economist for KPMG.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story @ High U.S. unemployment, 2.5 million jobs lost through 2021 -survey | Financial Post