Almost 3m Americans filed for unemployment benefits for the first time in the past week, taking the number of applications to more than 36m in the eight weeks since the widespread lockdowns due to the pandemic.
Although it was the lowest increase since mid-March, the number of initial jobless claims was 2.98m in the week ended May 9, the US labour department said on Thursday, from an upwardly revised 3.2m a week earlier. This compared with expectations of 2.5m applications, according to a survey of economists by Refinitiv.
While jobless claims have retreated for six consecutive weeks from a record 6.69m in late March, the rates of decline depend heavily on how successfully states can reopen their economies, a nascent process that is far from uniform across the country.
Despite the gradual week-to-week declines, jobless claims remain at levels in excess of those seen during the financial crisis and reflective of the fallout that has curtailed the US’s longest economic expansion on record.
Over the past eight weeks, a total 36.6m Americans have filed for unemployment benefits for the first time.
Connecticut processed the highest number of claims in the most recent week, at 298,680, according to preliminary state-level estimates that have not been seasonally adjusted.
The most recent official employment data, released last Friday, showed the US economy shed a record 20.5m jobs in April and the unemployment rate leapt to 14.7 per cent, the highest since the second world war.
Including 870,000 jobs lost in March, more jobs were lost in the past two months than created over the past decade.
Easing lockdowns remains a key step to getting Americans back to work, but the question of where and when jobs can be regained is complicated by the distribution and speed at which states and regions lift their stay at home orders.
That process still comes with significant risks. Anthony Fauci, one of the most senior members of Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, warned on Tuesday that ending lockdowns too soon could lead to “suffering and death”.
His remarks, to a Senate committee hearing, about the risk of uncontrolled outbreaks in the US prompted a sell-off on Wall Street and followed weekend reports of new coronavirus flare-ups in China, South Korea and Germany after they eased lockdowns.
Source: Economy - ft.com
