Record 6.6 Million Americans Filed For Unemployment Last Week

7

As Geller Report previously reported last week, the numbers are worse than that.

U.S. Jobless Claims Surge With Tally at 10 Million in Two Weeks

https://twitter.com/PamelaGeller/status/1244702327073693696

Story continues below advertisement

By Sarah Chaney and Eric Morath, WSJ, April 2, 2020:

A record 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, marking a drastic downturn in the U.S. labor market caused by the new coronavirus.

The large number of claims was double the 3.3 million sought benefits two weeks ago as the U.S. shut down parts of the economy in an effort to contain the virus. Jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, provide temporary financial assistance for workers who lose their jobs.

“The speed and magnitude of the labor market’s decline is unprecedented,” said Constance Hunter, chief economist at KPMG LLP. Ms. Hunter said she expected that millions more claims will be filed in the coming weeks and projects 20 million jobs will be lost. “We didn’t see this in the global financial crisis. We didn’t see this in the Great Depression. There’s been a total decimation of consumption.”

States indicated people from a wide array of industries—including restaurants, retail, trade and construction—sought unemployment benefits, showing the toll from the coronavirus is gripping a growing share of the U.S. economy.

There are several reasons why unemployment claims are likely to remain high in the coming weeks. For one, the federal rescue package signed into law last week increases the pool of workers who can tap benefits by making independent contractors and self-employed individuals eligible. Further, states have continued to tighten restrictions, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada and Pennsylvania on Wednesday issued statewide stay-at-home orders.
Why Unemployment Means More Money for Some Under Stimulus Bill

Under the new coronavirus stimulus package, some workers may earn more money from unemployment benefits than what they earned before being laid off. WSJ’s Gerald F. Seib explains why that is the case. Photo: Anna Watts for The Wall Street Journal

Many states haven’t fully processed all unemployment-benefit applications due to the deluge, though initial claims were dramatically higher in many states last week than two weeks ago.

The largest number of claims were filed in California last week, followed by Pennsylvania, and New York.

Renee Munholand, a theater worker who helps hang lights and audio equipment for events in Seattle, successfully filed for unemployment after the city’s concerts and corporate events ground to a halt. She received her first two unemployment checks, which totaled about $1,200, on March 24.

The money is helping, she said, enabling her to make minimum payments on credit cards, buy food and make rent. She said she is keeping her heat turned down to trim costs.

“Depending on how long this goes, it could eventually start to be crippling,” she said.

Who’s Hiring and Who’s Firing: How Firms Are Reacting to the Coronavirus

The increase in unemployment claims is set to drive up the unemployment rate, which was hovering near a 50-year low as recently as February, by several percentage points.

Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US LLP, said the unemployment rate rises by 1 percentage point for every 1.5 million initial jobless claims. That means two weeks of claims near 3 million could lead to a jobless rate of 7.5%.

Layoffs have been particularly widespread among small businesses. Such firms operate on lower cash reserves and quickly resorted to layoffs, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. They estimated that up to 6.6 million small-business employees were immediately laid off when state governments in March began mandating businesses close to contain the virus’s spread.
Most of the restaurants and retail businesses in Portsmouth, N.H., have closed, with some offering takeout orders.
Photo: Charles Krupa/Associated Press

Employees at small businesses tend to be lower-skill workers who suffer most from layoffs, said Paige Ouimet, a finance professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s business school.

“It’s sort of a double whammy that we’re expecting the biggest layoffs to occur for the type of worker it’s going to be most painful for,” she said.

Carol Schroeder, co-owner of Orange Tree Imports, a housewares shop in Madison, Wis., laid off 20 employees last week when the store closed to comply with state orders. Among those dismissed were workers she employed for three decades.

“I told them to go apply for unemployment insurance,” she said. “We’ve paid into it for 45 years, now’s the time to use it.” She plans to seek federal loans so she can pay workers’ health insurance and said she is confident they will return when her business reopens.

The roughly $2 trillion stimulus package passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump last week is intended to help ease some of the financial pain many laid-off Americans are experiencing.

Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia earlier this week said funds to increase unemployment payments by $600 a week—more than double the existing maximum in some states—will be distributed to states this week, but he didn’t know when states would make such payments to individuals.

The Truth Must be Told

Your contribution supports independent journalism

Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more.

Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible.

Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too.

Please contribute here.

or

Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.

Quick note: We cannot do this without your support. Fact. Our work is made possible by you and only you. We receive no grants, government handouts, or major funding. Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here.

Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here— it’s free and it’s essential NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America's survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.

Follow Pamela Geller on Gettr. I am there. click here.

Follow Pamela Geller on
Trump's social media platform, Truth Social. It's open and free.

Remember, YOU make the work possible. If you can, please contribute to Geller Report.

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spammy or unhelpful, click the - symbol under the comment to let us know. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

If you would like to join the conversation, but don't have an account, you can sign up for one right here.

If you are having problems leaving a comment, it's likely because you are using an ad blocker, something that break ads, of course, but also breaks the comments section of our site. If you are using an ad blocker, and would like to share your thoughts, please disable your ad blocker. We look forward to seeing your comments below.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
7 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
AR154U☑ᵀʳᵘᵐᵖ DEPLORABLE 2020
AR154U☑ᵀʳᵘᵐᵖ DEPLORABLE 2020
3 years ago

comment image

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
3 years ago

The atheist left has to destroy the USA in order to save it — it’s the next best thing to atheist Communist genocide.

John Acord
John Acord
3 years ago

We know who is responsible for this devastation. When are we going to start taking measures to collect the vast indemnity that is owed by the ChiComs to us and the rest of the world whose economies they have purposely wrecked and whose people they have murdered in numbers approaching millions? That Is the only question I have? This murderous rogue regime must be eliminated from the face of the earth by whatever means is required. And. we have to do it now before they can launch a second attack.

felix1999
felix1999
3 years ago
Reply to  John Acord

My guess is we should get through this first and then get them.

John Acord
John Acord
3 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

The problem my friend is the ChiComs will launch another attack soon. Trump and the generals are preparing. One million reservists have been called up, the vital military command is moving into the 3000 ft deep bunkers in Colorado; Pompeo has called for all’Americans to return home, especially those in China and Hong Kong. These are all indications we are preparing for war with the ChiComs. Military intelligence knows this was deliberate attack.

felix1999
felix1999
3 years ago

We will get through this. Ideally China needs to pay in some form for their lying. ALL of this could have been avoided if they didn’t hide and lie about it.

felix1999
felix1999
3 years ago

What’s wrong with wearing a scarf if you don’t have a mask available?

Sponsored
Geller Report
Thanks for sharing!