CBO estimates leisure and hospitality sector lost nearly 50 percent of its jobs in March and April

(Image credit: Justin Heiman/Getty Images)

published 19 May 2020

The Congressional Budget Office's updated economic projections for 2020 and 2021 revealed just how brutal the coronavirus pandemic has been for the leisure and hospital sector.

The CBO estimates the industry lost 48.3 percent of its jobs, or 8.6 million total, in March and April.

Looking toward the future, the latest projections are far from rosy, and leisure and hospitality isn't the only sector of the U.S. economy that will deal with the fallout. Real GDP is expected to shrink by 11.2 percent in the second quarter of 2020, before growing by 5 percent in the third. The CBO pegged unemployment to peak at 15.8 percent in the 2020's third quarter before gradually dropping until it settles at 8.6 percent by the end of 2021.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.