jobless

Soaring jobless claims jolt US debate over reopening states

By Tommy Flemm 1 year ago

America’s growing ranks of jobless workers underscored the severe toll the coronavirus pandemic has taken on the world’s largest economy, while heightening a polarizing debate over restarting the U.S. economy.

On Thursday, the Labor Department showed that nearly 3 million people filed unemployment claims — hitting a staggering new milestone of over 36 million individuals pushed out of work since the COVID-19 crisis forced the shutdown of public life and whipsawing markets in early trading.

Gene Sperling, the former director of the National Economic Council under both Presidents Clinton and Obama, told Yahoo Finance in an interview that the crisis has hit the working class the hardest, given that many are unable to work remotely.

“And so when their businesses are closed, they, you know, they lose their job outright. So in a sense, lower income Americans are really taking a deep hit, both in losing jobs, both in suffering

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US jobless numbers rise as divergence between US, NY grows more apparent

By Tommy Flemm 1 year ago

The swelling ranks of unemployed Americans took center stage on Thursday, as yet another 7-figure jobless claims number underscored the coronavirus pandemic’s devastating impact on the U.S. economy, where a vigorous debate over relaxing stay-at-home orders is underway.

Ahead of April’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, the Labor Department reported that a staggering 33 million workers claimed unemployment in the latest week. Despite the grim data — and still rising COVID-19 diagnoses in the world’s largest economy — markets rose on expectations that restrictions on public movement would continue to be eased.

That debate is being clouded by a rising number of cases, and a lack of available testing in the U.S. The global pandemic has now infected over 3.7 million, and caused more than 264,000 deaths. In America, cases have topped 1.2 million while claiming over 73,000 lives — a figure that former Centers for Disease Control director

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Jobless claims remain ‘frightening’ as employers pull back on hiring

By Tommy Flemm 1 year ago

Since the U.S. economy shut down seven weeks ago, more than 33 million people have lost their jobs, including 3.169 million who filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending May 2. And nearly 7 in 10 Americans say their income has shrunk because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new Financial Times-Peterson Foundation U.S. Economic Monitor report.

“The outlook for the labor market remains frightening,” Nick Bunker, Indeed.com Hiring Lab’s director of economic research, said. “Not only does the pace of layoffs remain at unprecedented levels, but hiring intentions remain depressed.” 

According to the Financial Times-Peterson Foundation, the majority of Americans say it will take a year or more for the economy to fully recover from the coronavirus shutdown. 

Congress has provided several forms of assistance to Americans facing financial hardship in the last round of fiscal stimulus including: foreclosure and forbearance protections for federally backed mortgages,

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Jobless claims show economic toll; drug makers ramp up efforts

By Tommy Flemm 1 year ago

The toll of the coronavirus pandemic widened on Thursday, as grim new U.S. unemployment data underscored the growing economic carnage, and amplified the debate over states relaxing stringent stay-at-home orders.

The virus has now infected more than 3.2 million globally, and killed more than 228,000 — while shutting down businesses and locking many citizens indoors. In the U.S., there have been more than 1 million cases reported, and more than 61,000 are dead.

On Thursday, Labor Department data showed that 3.8 million individuals applied for unemployment in the past week, pushing the record for unemployment to 30 million in the last six weeks. However, some economists believe the peak may have been hit earlier this month, when a record 6.6 million filed for unemployment, and should continue to decline in the coming weeks.

“As the economy starts to reopen in different sorts of states, you should start to see that

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Coronavirus recession ‘turning into the Great Depression II’ amid jobless spike

By Tommy Flemm 2 years ago

The 26 million unemployment claims filed in the U.S. amid the coronavirus pandemic has dire implications for the future of the U.S. economy, one economist warned.

“At this point it would take a miracle to keep this recession from turning into the Great Depression II,” Chris Rupkey, MUFG managing director and chief financial economist, wrote in a note on Thursday. “It is going to take years not months to put these pandemic jobless workers back to work at the shops and malls and factories and restaurants across the country.”

(Graphic: David Foster/Yahoo Finance)

‘A disaster for the country’

The initial wave of job losses were concentrated in the retail and hospitality sectors, but that’s spreading to suppliers and other industries, ING Chief International Economist James Knightley stated in another note on Thursday.

“We’re sitting here today at a 17% unemployment rate, which is a disaster for the country,” BNY

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