San José, CA – On Friday, December 4, the U.S. Department of Labor released its report on the jobs market in November. Their monthly survey of businesses reported a gain of only 245,000 new jobs, about half of what economists expected and less than half of October’s job gain of 600,000 jobs. For the first time since the beginning of the recession, job losses have spread from the government, which lost almost 100,000 jobs, to retail, which lost almost 35,000 jobs. Job growth in other areas slowed from October, with the exception of transportation and warehousing, showing the continuing growth of online shopping. November’s gain barely put a small dent in the almost 10 million jobs still missing from the plunge in March and April.
San José, CA – On Wednesday, November 25, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that new claims for regular state unemployment benefits increased for the second week in a row, up 30,000 to 778,000. This is the highest level in five weeks and the first time since July with back-to-back increases. Adding in the weekly new claims for the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or PUA for the self-employed and gig workers, almost 1.1 million people sought government aid in the recession.
San José, CA – Within a week of the election, the pandemic in the United States has turned the corner, just as President Trump said. But instead of fading away, there has been a surge in new infections. For five straight days there has been more than 100,000 cases a day, the latest being more than 145,000 – another record high. Trump has been uncharacteristically quiet on the pandemic, instead focusing on spreading lies and filing lawsuits to try to throw out people’s votes in a losing attempt to overturn President-elect Biden’s election victory.
San José, CA – On Friday, November 5 the U.S. Department of Labor released its monthly employment report for October, as President Trump faced defeat in the presidential election. The number of long-term unemployed, who have been out of work for more than six months, jumped by more than a million to outpace those recently laid off for the first time. The number of people collecting long-term unemployment under the federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation or PEUC, and the state Extended Benefits, rose by almost 500,000 in the week of the unemployment survey alone.
San José, CA – For the second month in a row, U.S. stocks fell in October. The drop in stock prices sped up, with both October and the last week being the worst month and week for the stock market since March. The broadest stock market index, the S&P 500, is now down nearly 9% from its record high in early September.
San José, CA – On Thursday, October 22, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that there were 787,000 new claims for regular state unemployment in the week that ended October 17. This was 55,000 fewer than the previous week, but still 20,000 higher than two weeks ago and almost four times as high as the same week a year ago. While new claims have fallen dramatically from the record high of almost 6 million in April, they are still higher than the pre-recession high of less than 700,000.
San José, CA – On Thursday, October 15, the U.S. Department of Labor reported the biggest one week increase in new claims for unemployment insurance since late July. The latest report for the week ending October 10 saw 898,000 new claims for regular state unemployment insurance, up 53,000 from the week before.
San José, CA – On Friday, October 2, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the official unemployment rate had dropped to 7.9% in September, from 8.4% in August. But of the almost one million people who left the official unemployment count, 70% stopped looking for work and did not find a job. This is because the government’s unemployment rate only counts those who are both without paid work and who are looking for work.
San José, CA – The latest report by the Department of Labor on unemployment insurance applications shows that the tide of layoffs continues. But this week, major U.S. corporations announced even more layoffs to come as the economy tilts on the edge of a ‘double-dip’ recession.
San José, CA – The latest weekly report on new applications for regular state unemployment insurance showed an unexpected increase in new claims. The Department of Labor, on Thursday, September 24, said that there were 870,000 people who filed for state unemployment benefits in the week ending September 19, up slightly from 866,000 the week before. However, most economists expected a sizable drop to 850,000.
