May 03 (Japan Times) - Extending the emergency declaration for the coronavirus by a month would double the ranks of the jobless to 778,000, according to an economist’s projection.
A one-month extension would keep consumption down along with people’s movements, further deepening the damage to the economy, economists said.
Toshihiro Nagahama, a senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, had projected that some 368,000 people would lose their jobs during the state of emergency as long as it expires Wednesday as planned.
But Nagahama now estimates that number will double if the emergency lasts another month as the government reportedly plans.
Takahide Kiuchi, executive economist at Nomura Research Institute, said a one-month extension would cause private consumption to drop by an additional ¥13.9 trillion, expanding the negative impact to a total of ¥27.8 trillion.
