CNBC: Coronavirus Job Losses Could Total 47 Million, Unemployment Rate May Hit 32%, Fed Estimates

Last week, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard offered a grim outlook for the U.S. economy, predicting unemployment would skyrocket to 30 percent by the second quarter of the fiscal year. Now, economists at the Fed’s St. Louis district are warning even that dire projection may have been optimistic.

On Tuesday, CNBC reported that the Fed is now projecting a 32.1-percent unemployment rate, with a total loss of 47 million jobs. That bleak forecast is based on some already staggering statistics, including a record 3.3 million jobless claims filed in the first three weeks of March.

One potential consolation is that the downturn may reverse faster than the 2008 financial crisis, which dragged on the U.S. economy for a decade.

> During a CNBC interview last week, Bullard said the jobless number “will be unparalleled, but don’t get discouraged. This is a special quarter, and once the virus goes away and if we play our cards right and keep everything intact, then everyone will go back to work and everything will be fine.”