Last week, Goldman Sachs predicted jobless claims could easily hit 2.25 million this week—seen by some as scaremongering but, it turned out, too optimistic. On Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced jobless claims of nearly 3.3 million, up from 281,000 the week before. The highest number of new claims in a week previously was 695,000 in 1982. Based on data already seen, it is plausible GDP numbers will drop more than 10 percent in the second quarter of 2020 across many OECD countries, where nearly 1.3 billion people live. Over the last decade or so, the social safety net has been gutted—and now we are paying the price: we have vulnerable communities that simply do not have the resources to withstand such a nasty economic or health shock. This virus changes everything.
