The European economy shrank by a record 3.8% in the first quarter as business activity from hotels and restaurants to construction and manufacturing was frozen by shutdowns aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
The drop in the 19-country eurozone was the biggest since statistics began in 1995 and sharper than the plunge in the midst of the global financial crisis in the first quarter of 2009 after the bankruptcy of U.S.
investment bank Lehman Brothers. The drop compares to a 4.8% contraction in the U.S. during the first quarter as the shock from the outbreak hits economies around the world. [ Sign up for our Health IQ newsletter for the latest coronavirus updates ] Unemployment rose only slightly, however, even amid the massive