Tag: U.S. economy

Supreme Court leaves CDC eviction moratorium intact

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday left intact a nationwide pause on evictions put in place amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The 5-4 vote rejected an emergency request from a group of landlords asking the court to effectively end the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) eviction moratorium, which is set to run through July.

The landlord group had asked the justices to lift the stay on a ruling by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that the moratorium amounted to an unlawful government overreach. Continue reading.

The economy isn’t going back to February 2020. Fundamental shifts have occurred.

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A new era has arrived of greater worker power, higher housing costs and very different ways of doing business

The U.S. economy is emerging from the coronavirus pandemic with considerable speed but markedly transformed, as businesses and consumers struggle to adapt to a new landscape with higher prices, fewer workers, new innovations and a range of inconveniences.

In late February 2020, the unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, inflation was tame, wages were rising and American companies were attempting to recover from a multiyear trade war.

The pandemic disrupted everything, damaging some parts of the economy much more than others. But a mass vaccination effort and the virus’s steady retreat this year has allowed many businesses and communities to reopen. Continue reading.

It’s not a ‘labor shortage.’ It’s a great reassessment of work in America.

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Hiring was much weaker than expected in April. Wall Street thinks it’s a blip, but there could be much deeper rethinking of what jobs are needed and what workers want to do on a daily basis.

From Wall Street to the White House, expectations were high for a hiring surge in April with potentially a million Americans returning to work. Instead, the world learned Friday that just 266,000 jobs were added, a massive disappointment that raises questions about whether the recovery is on track.

President Biden’s team has vowed that its massive stimulus package will recover all the remaining jobs lost during the pandemic in about a year, but that promise won’t be kept unless there’s a big pickup in hiring soon. There are still 8.2 million jobs left to recover. At the same time, business leaders and Republicans are complaining that there is a “worker shortage,” and they largely blame the more generous unemployment payments and stimulus checks for making people less likely to take low-paying fast food and retail jobs again. Democratic economists counter that companies could raise pay if they really wanted workers back quickly.

One way to make sense of this weak jobs report is to do what Wall Street did and shrug it off as an anomaly. Stocks still rose Friday as investors saw this as a blip. They think there is just a lag in hiring and more people will return to work as they get vaccinated. And they point out oddball months have occurred before, especially with some weird quirks in the Labor Department’s seasonal adjustments. Continue reading.

Unemployment Benefits Are Not Creating A Worker Shortage

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While some employers may be struggling to hire for one reason or another, economists say generous unemployment benefits are not the cause.

As the U.S. economy bounces back from the COVID-induced downturn, some employers say they’re having a hard time finding workers. GOP lawmakers like Rep. David Rouzer (N.C.) blame the safety net.

“This is what happens when you extend unemployment benefits too long and add a $1400 stimulus payment,” Rouzer said on Twitter last week, posting a photo from a Hardee’s that said it was closed for lack of staff. “Right when employers need workers to fully open back up, few can be found.”

It’s a dubious argument. Republicans said this same thing last year when Congress passed a big relief bill that added $600 per week to state unemployment benefits for four months. Continue reading.

Jobless claims hit new pandemic low for third straight week, as labor market picks up

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The 553,000 initial unemployment claims filings mark a slight drop but also a sign that the nation’s economic comeback is ‘starting to see some real firepower’

Weekly jobless claims fell to a pandemic low for the third consecutive week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, with 553,000 Americans filing for initial unemployment benefits for the week that ended April 24.

This marks a decrease of 13,000 compared with the previous week, putting the insured unemployment rate around 2.6 percent, the Labor Department said.

While claims remain elevated, the trajectory signals that growing vaccination numbers, loosening business restrictions and warmer weather are helping to heal the jobs market. The streak of declining claims started in mid-April, with a surprise drop of more than 175,000. Now, economists say they think the trend will continue. Continue reading.

Economy grew by 1.6 percent in first quarter, showing signs of boom to come

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The U.S. economic recovery picked up speed in early 2021, with the economy growing 1.6 percent in the first three months of the year amid a coronavirus vaccination campaign and massive stimulus spending from the federal government.

As Americans have begun to emerge from isolation and started spending again, construction surged and businesses invested in expectation of future growth. It appears likely that all coronavirus-era economic losses will be recovered by the middle of this year, according to data released Thursday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

Some of fastest economic growth in more than four decades occurred from January to March, behind only the initial 7.5 surge last year, when businesses first reopened after pandemic-related shutdowns. Continue reading.

A quarter of women say they are financially worse off a year into pandemic, Post-ABC poll finds

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A Washington Post-ABC News poll underscores the ongoing struggles that women and people of color face as they deal with job loss, caring for children, and rising food and rent costs

Women and people of color are the most likely to say they are financially worse off today than before the pandemic began, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, underscoring the struggles many Americans are still facing even as the broader economy shows signs of improvement.

A quarter of women say their family’s financial situation is worse today than before the coronavirus-related shutdowns began in March 2020, compared to 18 percent of men, the poll finds. And 27 percent of non-Whites say they are worse off now vs. 18 percent of Whites.

The findings highlight the ongoing financial hardships that many families are facing a year into the global health crisis. Women and workers of color were far more likely to lose jobs when the pandemic took hold last spring and wiped out millions of service-sector jobs in restaurants, hotels, spas, salons and non-urgent health-care fields. Women have also borne the majority of the child-care responsibilities as schools and day-care centers shuttered and classes moved online, requiring additional parental involvement. Continue reading.

Lockdowns Did More Economic Good Than Harm, Data Show

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Republicans have claimed repeatedly that so-called “blue state” lockdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic have destroyed their economies and that red states are enjoying robust recovery. However, a recent study has found that of the five states recovering jobs the most quickly since the beginning of the pandemic, four of them went blue in the 2020 presidential election — and the other is helmed by a Democratic governor.

The study, conducted by Wallet Hub and released on March 25, found that Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire had the most marked decreases in unemployment claims between the beginning of the pandemic to the present, indicating at least some promising recovery for their respective job markets. Of these, three (Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire) went to President Joe Biden in the November presidential election, with a fourth, Maine, giving three of its four electoral college votes to Biden.

The four states implemented strict safety precautions, lockdown measures, and mask mandates at the outset of the pandemic. The sole red state in the top five for job recovery, North Carolina, is helmed by a Democratic governor who also implemented strong safety measures when combating COVID-19. Continuer reading.

Economy adds whopping 916,000 jobs as recovery accelerates

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The U.S. added a whopping 916,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 6 percent in March as the recovery from the coronavirus recession chugged ahead, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The March jobs report showed the U.S. economy picking up speed as COVID-19 vaccinations accelerated, restrictions eased and President Biden signed a $1.9 trillion relief plan meant to give struggling households and businesses a bridge to the other side of the pandemic.

Economists had projected the U.S. to gain 675,000 jobs in March as consumer and business confidence rose, manufacturing activity sped up and workforce management companies reported steady rises in hiring and hours worked. Continue reading.

White House moves to reshape role of US capitalism

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The White House is pushing an infrastructure bill that could reshape the discussion around capitalism as it seems to reestablish the federal government as a primary driver of how the economy should grow and function.

In addition to traditional infrastructure projects, Biden’s $2.25 trillion American Jobs Plan would make government investments in broadband, electric vehicles, climate change, elderly care, child benefits, housing and developing future technologies. 

It would redefine classic infrastructure projects to include investments in workers and families paid for by tax hikes on corporations. Continue reading.