Scott Morrison reveals ‘terribly shocking’ impact COVID-19 has had on jobs

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has today revealed almost 600,000 jobs were lost in April, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

There are now more than 1.6 million Australians currently receiving JobSeeker payments and more than six million on JobKeeper.

Mr Morrison described the job losses as “terribly shocking” but not unexpected, and warned things will get worse before they get better.

“This is hard. We haven’t seen this before,” he said.

“More will follow.”

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg described today as “a very tough day”.

“Today’s unemployment numbers reveal the real and painful economic impact of the coronavirus,” he said.

The unemployment rate has jumped a full percentage point to 6.2 per cent, the highest recorded since September 2015.

Youth unemployment has jumped from 11.5 per cent to 13.8 per cent.

Press PLAY below for Scott Haywood’s breakdown of the unemployment figures and what they mean for the economy.