Another 5.2 Million Americans Filed Jobless Claims Last Week

Another 5.2 Million Americans Filed Jobless Claims Last Week

The Labor Department that another 5.2 million Americans filed jobless claims last week.

This brings the total to 20 million jobless claims since the economy shut down due to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, which is “easily the worst stretch of U.S. job losses on record.”

Almost 12 million Americans now receive unemployment checks. That number matches “the peak reached in January 2010.”

University of Michigan labor economist Daniil Manaenkov said America may not “see claims declining” until about mid-May or longer.

From The Wall Street Journal:

More Americans are receiving enhanced jobless benefits of $600 a week on top of usual state payments, and additional workers are eligible to receive unemployment insurance under the federal stimulus package signed into law in March. The expansion of benefits could make it more attractive for workers to apply, keeping claims at very high levels.

Laid-off workers in 29 states should be receiving the extra $600 in weekly benefits, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said Wednesday. Other states will take longer to deliver the larger payments because they are relying on decades-old computer equipment. States will owe catch-up payments to workers backdating to the first week of April.

The service industry has taken a massive hit, but layoffs also occurred within “white collar professional occupations, including software programmers, construction workers and sales people.”

Economists found that the pandemic has left 50 million people vulnerable when it comes to their job. However, they know “[I]t’s unlikely that all of those workers will be laid off or file for unemployment benefits.” The Associated Press continued:

The U.S. economy is tumbling into what appears to be a calamitous recession, the worst in decades. Ryan Sweet, an economist at Moody’s Analytics, estimates that the nation’s output will shrink 10.5% before it starts to rebound. That would be more than double the contraction that occurred during the 2008-2009 recession, which was the worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Retailers and other service companies keep cutting jobs. The electronics chain Best Buy said this week that it will furlough 51,000 of its hourly employees, including nearly all its part-time workers. Royal Caribbean Cruises will cut one-quarter of its 5,000 corporate employees.

But now, job losses are spreading well beyond occupations involving restaurants, retail, travel and entertainment, which were hit first and hardest. The software company Toast, which works with the restaurant industry, last week cut half its workforce — or 1,300 people — citing a dizzying drop in restaurant sales. Yelp, the customer review site, cut 1,000 jobs. Groupon, the online discount company, shed 2,800.

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