The Industries Worst Affected by the COVID-19 Job Crisis

As the unemployment rate climbed to a historic high of 14.7 percent in April, not all industries were equally affected by the worst job crisis in post-war America. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of unemployed persons climbed to 22.5 million in April (not seasonally adjusted) as the measures taken to contain the coronavirus have wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy.

Unsurprisingly, given that restaurants, bars and the like remained closed amid the lockdown, the leisure and hospitality sector has been hit hardest by the COVID-19 crisis with more than 4.8 million industry workers unemployed at the end of April. The following chart shows which industries were also heavily affected and which ones were spared by the crisis.