WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Job numbers released Thursday in the U.S. continue to show how bleak the current economic outlook is for workers.
Nearly 3.2 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
A total of around 33.5 million U.S. workers have now filed for jobless aid since the coronavirus began to closes businesses across the country in March.
SPECIAL COVERAGE: Coronavirus | The Rebound South Florida | We're Open South Florida
WPTV spoke with a financial expert on Thursday who said it appears things could be tough for workers for the unforeseeable future.
“I never thought I’d be unemployed,” said Rosalind Vietri, a cosmetologist from Fort Pierce.
She is among the millions suddenly unemployed with no real idea when she can get back to work.
“I worry the clientele base coming back into the salon, has this financially affected them and so the trickle down effect to me,” said Vietri.
“I think it’s becoming unfortunately clear this is not going away anytime soon,” said financial adviser Keith Singer of Boca Raton.
He is having a harder time these days seeing any immediate recovery as the unemployment numbers continue to grow.
“There’s going to be people (without) a job to come back to. If we knew for a fact in six months everything would be back to normal there would be no problems at all, but this is going to be a big adjustment,” said Singer.
Adding to the struggle in Florida is an unemployment system that has left thousands without benefits as most of South Florida waits for the go ahead to try and reopen.
Jacob Olivo is a restaurant employee waiting to get back to work.
“When we do reopen, the amount of hours, we can work, the amount of money we make, will be substantially affected,” said Olivo.
Like many in his line of work, there’s worry that coming back to work in the next few months may only mean part time.