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US Jobless Benefit Claims Increased Again Last Week

Ken Bredemeier

   U.S. unemployment benefit claims rose again last week, the Labor
   Department reported Thursday, as the surging number of coronavirus
   cases restricts many businesses throughout the world's biggest economy.

   Seasonally adjusted, a total of 885,000 laid-off workers filed for
   jobless compensation last week, up 23,000 from the revised figure of
   the week before. It was the second straight week that the weekly figure
   had topped 800,000 after hovering in the 700,000-plus range for seven
   consecutive weeks.

   With more than 200,000 new coronavirus cases being recorded every day
   recently, state governors and municipal officials have been imposing
   new restrictions on business activity, after lifting similar curbs
   months ago, when the virus seemed to ebb. Employers, in turn, have been
   laying off more workers, and applications for unemployment benefits
   have now risen in four of the last five weeks.

   The layoffs are being imposed even as thousands of Americans started
   getting inoculated against the virus this week with a vaccination
   developed by U.S. drug maker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
   Another vaccine produced by the U.S. biotechnology firm Moderna is
   likely to be approved within days.

   Health care workers and nursing home patients are getting the first
   wave of shots to curb the pandemic in the U.S. More than 307,000 people
   have been killed by the virus in the U.S. and nearly 17 million
   infected, both world-leading figures, according to Johns Hopkins
   University.

   But until the vaccines are widely deployed over the coming months, the
   tens of thousands of new infections are likely to severely affect the
   country's labor market.

   The newest jobless claims figure -- as has been the weekly total for
   nine months --remained above the highest pre-pandemic figure in records
   that date to the 1960s. Last week's total extends the run of high
   weekly claim totals that started in mid-March when the coronavirus
   swept into the United States.

   Jobless workers, however, could get some extra relief in the coming
   weeks.

   Lawmakers in Congress, stalemated for months on more coronavirus aid
   for unemployed workers, businesses and state and local governments, say
   they are on the verge of approving more assistance beyond the $3
   trillion they approved months ago, almost all of which already has been
   spent.

   After months of stalemated negotiations, Congress is nearing an
   agreement on a new coronavirus relief measure totaling about $900
   billion that includes extra $300-a-week payments for jobless workers
   for three months on top of less generous state jobless pay. The new
   total is half the $600-a-week stipends that expired at the end of July.

   In addition, the government plans to send $600 checks to all but the
   top-earning American adults to help boost the coronavirus-ravaged
   economy. That figure is also half the amount the government doled out
   months ago as the virus first swept into the United States from China
   and Europe.

   President-elect Joe Biden has called the aid package "a down payment"
   on coronavirus relief and has promised to propose more assistance after
   he is inaugurated on January 20.

   The 6.7% unemployment rate recorded in the U.S. in November is a marked
   improvement from the pandemic low point -- a 14.7% jobless rate in
   April -- but perhaps is somewhat artificially lower because the figure
   does not include people who have dropped out of the labor market and
   are not actively looking for work.

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