Private payrolls hemorrhaged more than 20 million jobs in April as companies sliced workers amid a coronavirus-induced shutdown that took most of the U.S. economy offline, according to a report Wednesday from ADP.
In all, the decline totaled 20,236,000 — easily the worst loss in the survey’s history going back to 2002 but not as bad as the 22 million that economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting. The previous record was 834,665 in February 2009 amid the financial crisis and accompanying Great Recession.
“Job losses of this scale are unprecedented,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, co-head of the ADP Research Institute, which compiles the report in conjunction with Moody’s Analytics. “The total number of job losses for the month of April alone was more than double the total jobs lost during the Great Recession.”
CNBC:
- St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said Wednesday that Friday’s jobs report will likely be one of the worst in American history.
- Bullard’s comments came minutes before ADP reported that private payrolls shed more than 20 million jobs in April amid coronavirus shutdowns.
- Economists expect the Labor Department’s jobs report on Friday to show that the U.S. unemployment rate to have rocketed to 16% in April from 4.4% in March.
The Greatest Job Losses by Sector:
- Services and Hospitality sector=8.6 million furloughs, although restaurants did try to regain some of their business by offering curb-side pick-up.
- Trade, Transportation and Utilities= 3.44 million.
- Construction=2.48 million.
- Manufacturing=1.67 million.
- Other services category=1.3 million.
- Professional and Business services=1.17 million.
- Health care and social assistance=999,000.
- Information services=309,000
- Financial services=216,000.
The official April’s job report will come out on Friday.
