Unemployment in US and UK 'may be worse than in Great Depression'

Coronavirus fuelling faster collapse than 1930s, warns ex-Bank of England rate-setter

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Unemployment in Britain and the US could surpass the levels reached during the 1930s Great Depression within months as the coronavirus crisis crushes the global economy, a former Bank of England official has warned.

In a stark forecast as job losses mount around the world, David Blanchflower, professor of economics at Dartmouth College in the US and a member of the Bank's interest rate-setting monetary policy committee during the 2008 financial crisis, said unemployment was rising at the fastest rate in living memory.

Related: Forget 'recession': this is a depression | David Blanchflower and David Bell