A newly released poll shows that 18 percent of adults have reported either layoffs or cuts to their scheduled hours due to ongoing COVID-19 problems.
The survey in question was conducted by the Marist Poll in collaboration with NPR and PBS NewsHour, posing the following question to a sample of 835 adults between March 13 and March 14:
Have you, yourself, or someone in your household experienced any of the following because of coronavirus: Been let go or had your work hours reduced. If you´re retired or not employed, please say so?
18 percent of those surveyed, a group that excludes those not presently employed or that have retired, answered "Yes." For those households with an income of less than $50,000, the number jumped to 25 percent.
Companies named in a recent Forbesrundown of job-shedders and/or hour-cutters include Marriott International, Powell's Books, Circuit of the Americas, MGM Resorts, and more. And on Wednesday, Eater reported that the restaurant company Union Square Hospitality Group is laying off approximately 2,000 employees "immediately." The number accounts for 80 percent of the company's workforce.
As for how high these numbers could theoretically rise if the coronavirus fallout persists, experts' predictions—including the assertion that a possible loss of more than three million jobs by the end of summer—were pushed back against by Trump during his press conference on Wednesday.
Asked about Great Depression-comparable levels of job loss, Trump said that is an "absolute total worst case scenario" and asserted that we are "nowhere near" such a thing.
Meanwhile, high traffic to multiple states' unemployment sites have caused crashes that have resulted in some putting in place a staggered approach to the application process.
