The pandemic is causing a recession so bad one in 5 American workers could get laid off

• The US unemployment rate could rise as high as 20% in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, according to The Atlantic's Annie Lowrey.
• Within the last week, state jobless claims skyrocketed. Connecticut residents, for instance, filed 30,000 jobless claims in mid-March, compared to the weekly average of 3,000.
• Goldman Sachs predicted that jobless claims could spike to 2.25 million this week - tripling the record set in 1982.
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The impact of the coronavirus pandemic could be catastrophic for American workers.

It's conceivable that the unemployment rate, which hit record lows in December 2019, might jump to 20% during the impending economic recession, according to The Atlantic's Annie Lowrey. And Lowrey's forecast isn't an outlier. Goldman Sachs has predicted that jobless claims could spike to 2.25 million this week - tripling the record set in 1982.

US jobless claims were already up for the past week ended March 14, by 70,000 to a total of 281,000. The stock market plunged, recording its biggest drop since 1987 on March 16. Cash-strapped businesses have begun laying off and furloughing workers by the thousands.

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As state and local governments across the country order restaurants to halt dine-in service and request citizens to "shelter-in-place," between 5 million to 7 million US restaurant workers could lose their jobs.

The Atlantic cited state jobless filing growth as signals for how bad the impending national unemployment rate might be: Pennsylvania unemployment claims increased by 36,000 from the first week of March to the second week; Connecticut saw a spike of 30,000 jobless claims in mid-March, compared to an average 3,000; and Texas saw a 40% jump in claims from the first week of March to its second.

President Donald Trump, sensing the impending disaster, has reportedly asked states to delay releasing their unemployment numbers.

• Read more:
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• Here's how a new law giving workers paid sick leave amid coronavirus will affect you
• An ER nurse told us she was exposed to the coronavirus and has symptoms but still can't get tested, and it highlights both America's crippling inequality and its broken healthcare system