U.S. Unemployment Reaches 14.7 Percent – Chart from Great Depression Shows Risks Ahead

(Pam Martens and Russ Martens) The data is out this morning and it’s not pretty. Nonfarm payrolls collapsed by 20.5 million jobs in April and the unemployment rate rose to 14.7 percent. The United States is now seeing the worst unemployment rates since the Great Depression.

The above chart was prepared from data available at the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) archives at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Following the stock market crash of October 29, 1929, it was not until August 1931 that the unemployment rate reached 15.01 percent. We’re now at 14.7 percent unemployment from a rate of 3.5 percent just two months ago in February.

*editors notes

A quick recovery for the U.S. economy is not likely. While many states are attempting to “reopen” now that COVID-19 fears are lessening, but the true economic problems run much deeper than the coronavirus impact. Even if Americans keep conducting business as usual after all of the restrictions have been finally lifted, many of the stores and restaurants that have reopened will be seeing very, very few customers. Unfortunately, millions of small businesses are not going to be able to survive for very long in such a depressed economic environment.

We are living in unprecedented times, the rules of the game have been slanted very heavily in favor of huge corporations and are slanted very heavily against small businesses. Small business owners like myself are fighting to survive. We do not want to be servants of Big Business, and we choose this lifestyle to enable us the most freedom possible. But it seems that those in power want to shrink our possibilities down, using an authoritarian boot, to a point of complete top down control.

Now is the time to fight. Freedom will always be taken from you if you do not resist those who seek power and control. Economic collapse is always an opportunity for the powerful to take more freedom from the powerless. It’s now or never folks. Get your pitchforks, find a militia and make your voice heard!