Fears unemployment may climb to 22%

The second lockdown is reviving fears of unemployment exceeding 20% soon, with analysts saying that the jobless rate is set to rise for the first time since 2013, reaching as high as 22% according to some forecasts.

It is estimated that each percentage point of gross domestic product contraction results in the loss of some 50,000 jobs.

This means that since early March the jobless number has risen by at least 350,000. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of workers will be trapped again in a gray zone between work and unemployment by having their contracts suspended, while quite a few have yet to emerge from the spring furlough.