US weekly jobless claims rise to 1.4 mn as $600 benefit is set to expire

Weakening of the labour market has raised fears the economy will shed jobs again in July, after sharp hiring gains in May and June

The US got another dose of bad economic news Thursday as the number of laid-off workers seeking jobless benefits rose last week for the first time since late March, intensifying concerns the resurgent coronavirus is stalling or even reversing the economic recovery. And an extra $600 in weekly unemployment benefits, provided by the federal government on top of whatever assistance states provide, is set to expire at the end of the week. It is the last major source of economic help from the $2 trillion relief package that Congress approved in March.

A small business lending program and one-time $1,200 payment have largely run their course. With the count of US infections passing 4 million and the aid ending, nearly 30 million unemployed people could struggle to pay rent, utilities, or other bills and economists worry that overall consumer spending will drop, adding another economic blow.

‘I’m broke’

“I’m going to be broke”, said Melissa Bennett, who was laid off from her job at a vacation time-share in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. “I’ll be broke-broke. I want to go to work, I want health insurance, I want a 401K. I want a life; I have no life right now.” Without the extra unemployment benefits, Bennett will receive just $200 a week, and she’ll have to decide whether to pay her mortgage or her utilities first…Read More

US jobless claims total 1.5 mn last week despite reopening amid Covid-19

The new report also showed that the four-week moving average, a method to iron out data volatility, decreased by 234,500 to reach 1.8 million

The number of initial jobless claims in the United States totalled 1.5 million last week despite continuous reopening efforts across the nation, the Labor Department said.In the week ending June 13, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits decreased by 58,000 from the prior week to 1,508,000, the 11th weekly decline in a row but remaining high on a historical basis, Xinhua news agency reported.

With the latest numbers, over 45 million initial jobless claims have been filed over the past 13 weeks as Covid-19-induced recession sent ripples through the US labor market, indicating the mounting economic fallout of the outbreak.

The new report also showed that the four-week moving average, a method to iron out data volatility, decreased by 234,500 to reach 1.8 million.The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending June 6 were in California, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, New York, and Maryland. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 14.1 per cent for the week ending June 6, unchanged from the previous week’s revised rate. The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending May 30 was 29.1 million, a decrease of 375,522 from the previous week, according to the report…