DNC Chair and former Labor Secretary Tom Perez released the following statement after another 1.4 million Americans filed initial claims for unemployment last week:
“Another 1.4 million unemployment claims. Another week of death and devastation. And this president continues to stand idly by. No action. No responsibility. No leadership. For the 28th consecutive week, more people have filed for unemployment benefits than during the single worst week of the Great Recession, and there continue to be mass layoffs, including more than 40,000 airline workers facing what could be the single-worst episode of aviation layoffs in American history. One flight attendant facing joblessness said simply, ‘I don’t have enough, unfortunately, to get by.’ That’s because he doesn’t have a good enough president to get by. As Americans struggle, Donald Trump still can’t find the courage, compassion, or competence to lead. More than 200,000 Americans have perished, millions of jobs have disappeared, and our economy remains in recession while Trump continues to hold up a deal on economic relief. We need to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to end this disastrous period in our history and help us build back better.”
1.4 million Americans filed new unemployment claims last week. For 28 consecutive weeks, more people have filed for benefits than during the single worst week of the Great Recession.
Washington Post’s Heather Long: “Layoffs are still going on at a rapid pace. 1.4 million Americans filed a *new* UI or PUA unemployment claim last week — about the same as the prior two weeks.”
CNBC: “The total is still well above anything the U.S. has seen since before the crisis.”
26 million Americans are receiving some form of unemployment relief – over 18 times where we were a year ago.
Washington Post’s Heather Long: “**26 million people are on unemployment**”
Nearly 63 million unemployment claims have been filed since the pandemic began, far surpassing the total during the entire Great Recession.
Business Insider: “The nearly 63 million unemployment-insurance filings made throughout the coronavirus pandemic trounce the 37 million filings seen during the 18-month Great Recession.”
Job growth slowed significantly in August.
Axios: “The labor market is rebounding, but the pace of hiring has dropped off. The slowdown could be a sign of what’s to come: a long, sluggish job market recovery… President Trump has praised job gains in recent months, even though they have consistently slowed from June’s surprise 4.8 million jump.”
BLS: “Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 1.4 million in August, following increases of larger magnitude in the prior 3 months.”
Wall Street Journal: “The number of available jobs in the U.S. leveled off late this summer, the latest sign momentum in the labor market is easing six months after the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the U.S. The increase in the number of job postings, a real-time measure of labor-market activity, has slowed dramatically since late July, and last week stood about 20% below 2019 levels, according to data the job-search site Indeed.com shared with The Wall Street Journal.”
Fewer than half of jobs lost during the pandemic have come back, with 11.5 million fewer jobs than in February.
BLS: “Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 1.4 million in August, following increases of larger magnitude in the prior 3 months. In August, nonfarm employment was below its February level by 11.5 million, or 7.6 percent.”
Washington Post’s Heather Long: “Official unemployment rate = 8.4% That’s the lowest unemployment rate since March but one of worst in modern history. **About 48% of the 22 million jobs lost during the pandemic have returned**”
Permanent job losses rose by 534,000 in August to 2.1 million since February.
BLS: “In August, the number of permanent job losers increased by 534,000 to 3.4 million; this measure has risen by 2.1 million since February.”
Hispanic and Asian unemployment remains over 10 percent, and the Black unemployment rate remains nearly twice that of white Americans.
Washington Post’s Heather Long: “This continues to be a highly uneven recovery. Black, Hispanic and younger workers remain over 10% unemployed Men: 8% Women: 8.4% Teens: 16.1% White: 7.3% Hispanic: 10.5% Asian: 10.7% Black: 13%”
There continue to be mass layoffs costing tens of thousands of jobs.
Yahoo News: “Still, a wave of new layoffs from major corporations looms. On Tuesday, Disney said it would be cutting 28,000 jobs in its resort business, in one of the deepest reductions announced so far during the pandemic period. Shell on Wednesday said it planned to slash up to 9,000 positions by the end of 2022. And airlines including American Airlines and United Airlines Holdings have each warned they could furlough some 19,000 and 12,000 workers, respectively, following the October lapse of provisions under Congress’s CARES Act that gave the industry billions to help keep workers on payrolls.”
Bloomberg: “Tens of thousands of job cuts announced by blue-chip companies in a 24-hour period are a warning sign for the world’s recovery and emerge just ahead of two key reports forecast to show limited progress in the U.S. labor market.”
Challenger Jobs Report: “Job cuts announced by U.S.-based employers jumped to 118,804 in September, up 2.6% from August’s total of 115,762, according to a monthly report released Thursday by global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. September’s total is 186% higher than the 41,557 job cuts announced in September 2019.”
Small businesses remain in peril with millions of small firms at risk and hundreds of thousands expecting to have to close in the next six months.
Bloomberg: “About one in 20 small firms say they expect to permanently shut down in the next six months, according to the latest Small Business Pulse Survey by the Census Bureau.”
CNBC: “Yelp also takes into account the businesses whose closures have become permanent. That number has steadily increased throughout the past six months, now reaching 97,966, representing 60% of closed businesses that won’t be reopening.”
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