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Weekly'ŻUS Jobless Benefit Claims Dip Below 1 Million

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - Another 963,000 unemployed U.S. workers filed for
   government jobless compensation last week, the government's Labor
   Department reported Thursday, but it was the first time since March
   that the weekly total had fallen below a million claims.

   For 20 straight weeks, more than a million jobless workers had sought
   government assistance as the virus unrelentingly attacks communities
   large and small throughout the country, forcing employers to shut down
   their businesses or curtail their operations and lay off workers.

   But last week's claims total, while still high, was an improvement,
   down 228,000 from the week before.

   Unemployment benefit claims have fallen sharply since late March in the
   earliest days of the pandemic's assault on the U.S. economy when 6.9
   million Americans sought relief in a single week. But before then, the
   worst recorded single week was in 1982, when 695,000 sought benefits,
   and every week during the coronavirus pandemic has been well above that
   four-decade-old figure.

   Even with last week's improved jobless claims number, the country's
   economic recovery has slowed, with the government reporting last week
   that 1.8 million new jobs were added in July, down sharply from the 4.8
   million new jobs reported in June.

   Until the end of July, the U.S. was sending an extra $600 a week to the
   jobless workers on top of less generous state unemployment benefits.
   But the White House and opposition Democrats in Congress have been
   unable to reach a new agreement on extending the coronavirus aid to
   jobless workers or families, businesses and state and local governments
   throughout the country.

   President Donald Trump last weekend signed an executive order he said
   would send an extra $400 a week to jobless workers, if states
   contributed $100 of that amount, and temporarily end the 7.65% payroll
   tax for working Americans earning less than $100,000 a year. But
   details of the assistance have been slow to emerge and the additional
   aid could take weeks to be implemented.

   Democratic lawmakers want to extend the $600-a-week payments through
   the end of 2020, but Republicans say the figure is too high, with some
   unemployed workers collecting more in jobless benefits than they were
   paid while working. The higher figure, the Republicans say, is an
   incentive to stay home and not return to work, although some employers
   have eliminated jobs their workers once held.

   Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark
   Meadows representing Trump had been negotiating with House Speaker
   Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer over the
   jobless benefits and other aid to boost the flagging U.S. economy that
   has been staggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

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