Today’s update highlights:

• new economic predictions for job losses in St. Louis

HUMAN RESOURCES

• New figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the COVID-19 recession in St. Louis to look a lot like the Great Recession from 2008 and 2009. In March alone, the St. Louis metro area lost 11,000 jobs, and April’s numbers are likely to be far worse. Economists are estimating that the total job loss in the region could exceed 82,000 in a single spring. Experts hope that a key difference between this recession and the last one is that most layoffs will be temporary and not permanent. Economists warn that while the economy is likely to rebound some by the end of the year, employment is not likely to bounce back quickly.