Unemployment Recovery

Najahe Sherman talks to Alabama Secretary of the Department of Labor, Fitzgerald Washington to discuss unemployment concerns.

Another 4.4 million americans applied for unemployment benefits last week.

So far -- 26.5 million people filed calims since march 14th.

The last 5 weeks mark the most sudden surge in jobless claims. that's since the labor department started tracking the data in 19-67.

The numbers show about 16- percent of the u-s labor force is suffering from layoffs, furloughs or reduced hours during the pandemic.

According to the alabama department of labor - more than 66-thousand of those claims came from our state.

Nearly 60-thousand of those are related to coronavirus.

While it is a lot of claims -- it's about 11-thousand fewer than the week before.

Tonight - i'm joined by alabama department of labor secretary fitzgerald washington.

What's the current unemployment rate?

How high do you see it getting?

How long will it take to recover?

These are unprecedented times.

Has the labor department ever dealt with anything remotely similar to this?

How does it compare to 2008?

What changed in your department then?

What do you think is going to change after this?

What's working well that may become the new norm?

Should unemployment benefits go up?

On the other side of the fence, are you concerned people may choose to stay unemployed because they can make more money than in their former profession?

Going back to the unemployment rate what 3.5 percent unemployment mean?

How many people are without a job?

During the recession, unemployment went into double