section_path: History/21st century/COVID-19 pandemic
section_name: COVID-19 pandemic
paragraph_text: COVID-19 pandemic
  
  In the first two quarters of 2020 amid Donald Trump 's presidency, the U.S. economy suffered major setbacks beginning in March 2020, due to the novel coronavirus and having to "shut-down" major sectors of the American economy. As of March 2020, US exports of automobiles and industrial machines had plummeted as a result of the worldwide pandemic. Social distancing measures which took effect in March 2020, and which negatively impacted the demand for goods and services, resulted in the US GDP declining at a 4.8% annualized rate in the first quarter, the steepest pace of contraction in output since the fourth quarter of 2008. US retails sales dropped a record 8.7% in March alone. The US airline industry had also been hit hard, seeing a sharp decline in its revenues. The COVID-19 recession has been widely described as the most severe global economic downturn since the Great Depression and "far worse" than the Great Recession.
  
  In May 2020, CNN gave an analysis based on unemployment data that the US economy was perhaps the worst that it had been since the 1930s. By May 8, the US had reached a record 14.7 percent unemployment, with 20.5 million jobs lost in April. The Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, warned that it may take "an extended time" before the US economy fully recovers from weak economic growth, due to the pandemic, and that in the foreseeable future the US can expect "low productivity growth and stagnant incomes". By May 31, 2020, more than forty million Americans had filed for unemployment benefits.
  
  By June 2020, the slump in US continental flights due to the coronavirus pandemic had resulted in the US government temporarily halting service of fifteen US airlines to 75 domestic airports. The New York Times reported on June 10, 2020, that "the United States budget deficit grew to a record $1.88 trillion for the first eight months of this fiscal year."
  
  The US economy recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, growing by 5.7%, which was its best performance since Ronald Reagan 's presidency (1981–1989).
  
  2021–2022 marked a historical inflation surge in the United States, with the Consumer Price Index inflation rate hitting 9.1% higher in June 2022 than June 2021, constituting a 41-year high inflation rate with critics blaming the Federal Reserve among other factors. Inflation rate reached 4.9% in April 2023, which was roughly 3% above the Federal Reserve's 2% target rate.
  
  In the first two quarters of 2020 amid Donald Trump 's presidency, the U.S. economy suffered major setbacks beginning in March 2020, due to the novel coronavirus and having to "shut-down" major sectors of the American economy. As of March 2020, US exports of automobiles and industrial machines had plummeted as a result of the worldwide pandemic. Social distancing measures which took effect in March 2020, and which negatively impacted the demand for goods and services, resulted in the US GDP declining at a 4.8% annualized rate in the first quarter, the steepest pace of contraction in output since the fourth quarter of 2008. US retails sales dropped a record 8.7% in March alone. The US airline industry had also been hit hard, seeing a sharp decline in its revenues. The COVID-19 recession has been widely described as the most severe global economic downturn since the Great Depression and "far worse" than the Great Recession.
  
  In May 2020, CNN gave an analysis based on unemployment data that the US economy was perhaps the worst that it had been since the 1930s. By May 8, the US had reached a record 14.7 percent unemployment, with 20.5 million jobs lost in April. The Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, warned that it may take "an extended time" before the US economy fully recovers from weak economic growth, due to the pandemic, and that in the foreseeable future the US can expect "low productivity growth and stagnant incomes". By May 31, 2020, more than forty million Americans had filed for unemployment benefits.
  
  By June 2020, the slump in US continental flights due to the coronavirus pandemic had resulted in the US government temporarily halting service of fifteen US airlines to 75 domestic airports. The New York Times reported on June 10, 2020, that "the United States budget deficit grew to a record $1.88 trillion for the first eight months of this fiscal year."
  
  The US economy recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, growing by 5.7%, which was its best performance since Ronald Reagan 's presidency (1981–1989).
  
  2021–2022 marked a historical inflation surge in the United States, with the Consumer Price Index inflation rate hitting 9.1% higher in June 2022 than June 2021, constituting a 41-year high inflation rate with critics blaming the Federal Reserve among other factors. Inflation rate reached 4.9% in April 2023, which was roughly 3% above the Federal Reserve's 2% target rate.
  
  In the first two quarters of 2020 amid Donald Trump 's presidency, the U.S. economy suffered major setbacks beginning in March 2020, due to the novel coronavirus and having to "shut-down" major sectors of the American economy. As of March 2020, US exports of automobiles and industrial machines had plummeted as a result of the worldwide pandemic. Social distancing measures which took effect in March 2020, and which negatively impacted the demand for goods and services, resulted in the US GDP declining at a 4.8% annualized rate in the first quarter, the steepest pace of contraction in output since the fourth quarter of 2008. US retails sales dropped a record 8.7% in March alone. The US airline industry had also been hit hard, seeing a sharp decline in its revenues. The COVID-19 recession has been widely described as the most severe global economic downturn since the Great Depression and "far worse" than the Great Recession.
  
  In May 2020, CNN gave an analysis based on unemployment data that the US economy was perhaps the worst that it had been since the 1930s. By May 8, the US had reached a record 14.7 percent unemployment, with 20.5 million jobs lost in April. The Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, warned that it may take "an extended time" before the US economy fully recovers from weak economic growth, due to the pandemic, and that in the foreseeable future the US can expect "low productivity growth and stagnant incomes". By May 31, 2020, more than forty million Americans had filed for unemployment benefits.
  
  By June 2020, the slump in US continental flights due to the coronavirus pandemic had resulted in the US government temporarily halting service of fifteen US airlines to 75 domestic airports. The New York Times reported on June 10, 2020, that "the United States budget deficit grew to a record $1.88 trillion for the first eight months of this fiscal year."
  
  The US economy recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, growing by 5.7%, which was its best performance since Ronald Reagan 's presidency (1981–1989).
  
  2021–2022 marked a historical inflation surge in the United States, with the Consumer Price Index inflation rate hitting 9.1% higher in June 2022 than June 2021, constituting a 41-year high inflation rate with critics blaming the Federal Reserve among other factors. Inflation rate reached 4.9% in April 2023, which was roughly 3% above the Federal Reserve's 2% target rate.