Job Losses Mount in Entertainment Industry

After 6.6 million people in the U.S. filed for unemployment for the first time in the week ending March 28, it is obvious that jobs are being cut left and right in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A report released yesterday by consultancy Challenger, Gray and Christmas shows just what industries were letting the most employees go. March job cuts numbered 222,000, up from just 56,000 in February. This means that in the first quarter of 2020, almost 347,000 U.S. jobs were cut, up from 190,000 in Q1 of 2019.

A significant share of these jobs was lost in the entertainment and leisure industries - 83,000 or 37 percent. This is no big surprise as all theater, concert and similar venues are closed, while amusement parks and tourist sites also remain shuttered. Services saw the third biggest losses with approximately 8,500 cut jobs. The automotive sector also suffered, as did non-profits.