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US April Shock: The Non-farm Payrolls and the Unemployment Rate

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Miguel A. Rodriguez
Miguel A. Rodriguez
14 September 2020
A historic day for the American economy

The  Labor Department's latest report is the worst ever released since World War II.

The pandemic's impact was more powerful than everyone expected. In just one month, more than 20 million jobs from the non-farm sectors disappeared and made the unemployment rate reach a heinous 14.7%. The current numbers beat the World War II record set at 10.8%, and the Great Recession in 2009, when it was 10%.

The pandemic managed to reverse a job market that just two months ago was on high-horses. February had a payroll gain of 230,000.  But everything took a turn for the worse when the March report showed a loss of more than 800,000 payrolls. Analysts believe it will take several years for the economy to recover, and the unemployment rate to return to 3.5%.

On the other side, average hourly earnings gained 8% from the same period last year. 

The market opened higher: USA30 rose almost 1%, USA500 and TECH100 gained 1% each. 

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Sources: forexfactory.com, cnbc.com, washingtonpost.com

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Miguel A. Rodriguez
Miguel A. Rodriguez
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Miguel worked for major financial institutions such as Banco Santander, and Banco Central-Hispano. He is a published author of currency trading books.