THE NEW YORK TIMES: More than four months after Americans began emerging from the coronavirus-caused lockdown across most states, the job market remains treacherous, according to new data from the Labor Department.
More than 857,000 workers filed new claims for state unemployment insurance last week, before seasonal adjustments, a slight increase from the previous week. Although the unemployment rate has fallen to 8.4 percent, the level of layoffs reflects the challenges for many workers in the fitful recovery.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the total was 884,000, unchanged from the revised figure for the previous week.
In addition, about 839,000 new claims were filed under a federal program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which provides assistance to freelancers, part-time workers and others who do not ordinarily qualify for state benefits. That figure, which is not seasonally adjusted, represented a rise from 748,000 the previous week.
“Permanent job losses are mounting,” said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics. “There are a large number of people who are being sidelined and could fall out of the labor force.” » | Thursday, September 10, 2020
