Expanding American manufacturing sector and historically low unemployment rate have so far given a reassuring platform for Donald Trump’s re-election campaign. However, the raging coronavirus pandemic and quarantine restrictions imposed across the United States are unsurprisingly putting some strain on American economic prosperity.
The US unemployment rate is expected to reach 12% in the second quarter of 2020, as more than 4.5 million jobs in America’s non-farm sector could be lost throughout April-June as the coronavirus pandemic is still ongoing, the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) predicted, citing a survey of a panel of 45 forecasters from the industry.
U.S. President Donald Trump listens stands in front of a chart labeled “Goals of Community Mitigation” showing projected deaths in the United States after exposure to coronavirus as 1,500,000 – 2,200,000 without any intervention and a projected 100,000 – 240,000 deaths with intervention taken to curtail the spread of the virus during the daily coronavirus response briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 31, 2020
In March 2020, there were still signals that the American job market was healthy, with the unemployment rate remaining below 4% – among the lowest indicators in recent decades. This was a point of pride for Donald Trump, who hopes to be re-elected in November. However, the coronavirus pandemic, which has already taken the lives of more than 16,000 people in the United States, according to the data provided by Johns Hopkins University as of 10 April, also took its toll on the American economy.
The chief economist added that although the US GDP is expected to decline at an annualised rate of 2.4% in the first three months of 2020 and even further in the second quarter, America will return to economic growth by the end of the year, with a 5.8% annualised real GDP growth rate. She also believes, citing experts’ forecasts, that situation in the labour market will also eventually improve.
There are currently around 466,000 registered cases of coronavirus in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
On 13 March, the US president declared a national emergency due to the spread of coronavirus, with a number of quarantine measures and shelter-at-home orders have been imposed across American states. Later, Donald Trump suggested that some of the restrictions could be lifted to help Americans return to work as soon as possible.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
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