The US economy witnessed in 2020 the worst year since World War II after the Covid-19 crisis caused GDP to contract by 3.5% compared to 2019, according to preliminary estimates by the Ministry of Commerce published Thursday.
In 2019, the US economy recorded a growth of 2.1%.
During the fourth quarter alone, the growth rate was 4% at an annual rate, according to the American method of calculation.
But according to the method of calculation adopted in other major economies such as France, which compares one quarter with the other. Based on working days, the growth did not exceed 1%.
It is a very slow pace compared to the historic increase of 33.4% at the annual pace and 7.5% compared to the previous quarter between July and September.
The two growth chapters were not sufficient to repair the damages caused by the Covid-19 crisis, which caused GDP in the United States to shrink by 5% in the first quarter and 31.4% in the second quarter, which is unprecedented.
And the damage caused by the COVID-19 crisis The labor market remains huge, as at the beginning of January, 18.3 million people were receiving unemployment benefits, 2.3 million more than the previous week.
The total number of people benefiting from unemployment benefits has greatly increased thanks to the extension The aid decided by Congress according to figures released Thursday by the Ministry of Labor.
