Tag Archives: Unemployment

The Numbers Tell Us That The ‘Economic Recovery’ Is Dead And Businesses Are Failing At A Staggering Pace, by Michael Snyder

Posted on July 26, 2020 | 1 comment

Notwithstanding Wall Street’s fervid illusions and delusions, the economy is not bouncing back anytime soon. From Michael Snyder at themostimportantnews.com:

Even though economic conditions were absolutely awful, during the month of June the mainstream media kept insisting that the U.S. economy was “recovering” and the stock market kept surging on every hint of good news.  But now the “economic recovery” narrative is completely dead, because the numbers clearly show that the U.S. economy is rapidly moving in the wrong direction.  On Thursday, the Labor Department announced that another 1.416 million Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week.  Prior to this year, the all-time record for a single week was just 695,000, and so we are talking about a level of unemployment that is absolutely catastrophic.  But what is really alarming many analysts is that the number for last week was quite a bit higher than the number for the week before.  Many states are rolling out new restrictions as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to surge, and this is having a huge impact on economic activity.  For months I have been warning that fear of COVID-19 would prevent economic activity from returning to normal levels for the foreseeable future, and that is precisely what has happened.

Overall, more than 52 million Americans have filed new claims for unemployment benefits over the past 18 weeks, and that makes this the biggest spike in unemployment in U.S. history by a very wide margin.

In fact, this dwarfs all previous spikes by so much that the others are not even worth mentioning.

Of course it isn’t just the employment numbers that are depressingly bad.  According to Jefferies, in late June 19 percent of all U.S. small businesses were closed, but now that number has risen to 24.5 percent…

As of Sunday, 24.5% of small businesses in the United States were closed, according to Jefferies. That is worse than late June, when only 19% were closed. Jefferies pointed to “particular weakness in COVID hot spots” and noted that small business employment had dropped to levels unseen since the end of May.

Just think about that number for a minute.

Nearly a quarter of all small businesses in the entire country are closed.

Continue reading→

 

1 Comment

Posted in Business, Economy

Tagged ,

Jobless Thursday – How the Donald Is Making America Poor Again, by David Stockman

Posted on July 25, 2020 | 4 comments

Make no mistake, America is getting massively poorer by the day. From David Stockman at lewrockwell.com:

Maybe it is time to don our tinfoil hat. Here’s the flat-out lie the WSJ reported this morning in response to the weekly unemployment claims release. It sure did make you think that the jobs picture is improving by the week:

The number of people receiving benefits through regular state programs, which cover the majority of workers, decreased by 1.1 million to 16.2 million for the week ended July 11. The decline extends the recent trend, with the number receiving benefits the lowest reading since the week ended April 11.

Just to make sure you grasped the good news, the WSJ added this chart for good measure:

Actually, there was no improvement at all this week!

And what remains is the greatest labor market disaster in history. As Wolf Richter observed in his excellent post on the heels of the DOL (Department of Labor) report:

If you read this morning or heard on the radio that 16.2 million people were claiming unemployment insurance – the “continued claims” – and you thought that there were only 16.2 million people who claimed unemployment benefits, you fell victim to lazy misreporting in the media, by reporters or bots that didn’t read the Labor Department’s press release beyond the second paragraph.

Continue reading→

 

4 Comments

Posted in Business, Debt, Economy, Government, Labor

Tagged ,

War on Poverty, or Just War on the Poor? By Claudio Grass

Posted on July 17, 2020 | 2 comments

Covid-19 lockdowns are decimating the poor. From Claudio Grass at lewrockwell.com:

As the dust is now begging to settle, both from the heights of the COVID panic and from the riots that shook the western world, we are starting to get an idea about where we stand after this unprecedented and tumultuous time. We are able to begin taking stock of the damage that was inflicted by the lockdowns and to evaluate the governmental efforts to help those affected and to provide support to the economy. More interestingly, we are finally in a position to see clearly who amongst us paid the highest price, who suffered the most and whose livelihood was taken away.

This picture is especially clear in the US, where the numbers speak for themselves. One look at the unemployment figures as seen in the chart below is enough to demonstrate the extent of the damage of the economic shutdown. However, a more detailed examination of the data reveals a lot more. It shows the sharp inequality in those lost jobs. Low- and minimum wage employees, seasonal, part-time and low-skill workers, were fired from their jobs at an astoundingly higher rate than their white-collar and better-paid peers. It makes sense, of course. Not only could these jobs be performed from home more easily, but these employees were also largely less replaceable. Being by and large more educated, more experienced and more skilled, there were seen as more “essential”, to use the government’s own terminology. Of course, all jobs are essential for those who need them to survive, but then again that argument never managed to gain any traction when bureaucrats were deciding who gets to keep their job and whose source of income is simply surplus to requirements.

Continue reading→

2 Comments

Posted in Business, Economy, Governments, Medicine

Tagged , , ,

32 Million People on State & Federal Unemployment, 2nd Highest Ever: Week 17 of U.S. Labor Market Collapse, by Wolf Richter

Posted on July 17, 2020 | 2 comments

There’s no recovery evident in the unemployment numbers, which are in fact getting worse. From Wolf Richter at wolfstreet.com:

Torrent of 2.4 million new claims under state & federal programs this week. PUA claims by gig workers now 45% of 32 million in total unemployment. Many people are hired back, but many people are newly laid off. Labor market recovery remains hard to discern.

The torrent of newly laid-off workers keeps flowing into state unemployment offices to claim unemployment at an astounding rate week after week. But many people who were claiming unemployment benefits in prior weeks were called back to work, or found new work. And the total number of people who continued to claim unemployment compensation in the week ended July 11 under all state and federal unemployment insurance programs, including gig workers and contract workers, dipped by 433,000 to 32.0 million (not seasonally adjusted), according to the Department of Labor this morning. It was the second highest level ever, after last week’s gut-wrenching record.

Unemployment insurance under state programs.

It’s not getting better: 1.50 million people who were newly laid off filed their initial unemployment claims with state unemployment offices in the week ended July 11, up from 1.40 million people who’d filed their initial claims in the week before.

Over the past five weeks, these initial state unemployment claims totaled 7.25 million, for an average of 1.45 million per week, which shows how relentlessly companies have shed workers week after week.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Business, Economy, Labor

Tagged

Never Before Have I Seen So Much Fake Unemployment & Jobs Data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Labor Department Nails It, by Wolf Richter

Posted on July 2, 2020 | 1 comment

The bean counters are at odds on unemployment numbers. From Wolf Richter at wolfstreet.com:

Labor Department today: People on state & federal unemployment insurance jumped to 31.5 million, worst ever.

Bureau of Labor Statistics today: 4.8 million jobs created, unemployment dropped by 3.2 million.

BLS under-reported unemployment by 13.7 million, based on data from the Labor Department. What’s happening is infuriating. Read and cringe.

Normally, the jobs report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is released on the first Friday of the month. And the unemployment claims report is released Thursday every week. But this month, the monthly jobs report was also released today because of the 4th of July weekend. And now we have this delicious situation of both reports on the same day, with the Labor Department’s unemployment insurance data – people who are actually receiving unemployment benefits under state and federal programs – calling the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ survey-based report a liar. And we’ll go through them.

What the Labor Department reported today:

The total number of people who continued to receive unemployment compensation in the week ended June 27 under all state and federal unemployment insurance programs, including gig workers, surged by 937,810 people in the week, to 31.49 million (not seasonally adjusted), the highest and worst and most gut-wrenching ever:

Continue reading→

1 Comment

Posted in Business, Economy, Government, Labor

Tagged ,

Over 40 Million Jobless In 10 Weeks – “Nobody Ever Imagined It Would Get This Bad So Fast”, by Tyler Durden

Posted on May 28, 2020 | 3 comments

Nobody in the mainstream media, perhaps, imagined it would get this bad so fast, but plenty of people outside the mainstream were warning of impending disaster from the coronavirus lockdowns. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

In the last week 2.123 million more Americans filed for unemployment benefits for the first time (versus the 2.10mm expected).

Source: Bloomberg

That brings the ten-week total to 40.767 million, dramatically more than at any period in American history

But continuing claims declined last week as it appears some of the reopenings are seeing people come off the dole…

Source: Bloomberg

And as we noted previously, what is most disturbing is that in the last ten weeks, almost twice as many Americans have filed for unemployment than jobs gained during the last decade since the end of the Great Recession… (22.13 million gained in a decade, 40.767 million lost in 10 weeks)

Continue reading→

3 Comments

Posted in Business, Economy, Government, Medicine

Tagged ,

The Worst Unemployment Spike In U.S. History – 1 Out Of Every 4 Workers Has Filed For Unemployment Benefits In 2020, by Michael Snyder

Posted on May 23, 2020 | Leave a comment

It’s hard to argue we’re not in a depression with those numbers. From Michael Snyder at themostimportantnews.com:

Even though most U.S. states have begun the process of “reopening” their economies, the unprecedented tsunami of job losses that we have been experiencing just continues to roll on.  On Thursday, we learned that another 2.4 million Americans filed initial claims for unemployment benefits during the previous week, and that brings the grand total for this pandemic to a whopping 38.6 million.  To get an idea of just how badly this swamps what we witnessed during the last recession, take a look at this chart.  This is the biggest spike in unemployment in all of U.S. history by a very wide margin, and analysts are expecting another huge number once again next week.

After my father got out of the U.S. Navy, he worked as a math teacher for many years, and throughout my life I have always had a deep appreciation for numbers.

And in this case, the numbers are telling us that we are facing something truly horrific.

During the month of February, the number of Americans that were currently employed peaked at 152,463,000.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Business, Collapse, Debt, Economy, Government, Medicine

Tagged , ,

We’re destroying the nation’s wealth – and the health of millions, by Peter Hitchens

Posted on May 17, 2020 | Leave a comment

Perhaps in the UK Peter Hitchens’ positions on the coronavirus response don’t get a lot of support, but they do find a receptive audience in the US. From Hitchens at mailonsunday.co.uk:

Why do I bother? For six weeks now I have been saying that the Government’s policy on Covid-19 is a mistake. Most people do not agree with me, and many are angry with me for saying so. Others, bafflingly, don’t care about the greatest crisis I have seen in my lifetime, and regard the debate as a spectator sport.

Let me say it again: the coronavirus is not as dangerous as claimed. Other comparable epidemics have taken place with far less fuss, and we have survived them. The death rate is lower than the Government believed. It passed its peak in this country on April 8, well before the crazy measures introduced by the Government on March 23 could possibly have affected matters. The actions we are taking against it are gravely out of proportion and will destroy the lives of thousands and the prosperity and health of millions. This is not life versus money. It is life versus life.

It has not been much fun fighting this. In fact, it has been exhausting and dispiriting. I feel as if I am in a nightmare where I can see a terrible danger approaching but when I cry out in warning, nobody can hear me. Can’t you see? I yell in the dream. If you don’t defend your most basic freedom, the one to go lawfully where you wish when you wish, then you will lose it for ever.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Business, Civil Liberties, Economy, Government, Media, Medicine, Politics

Tagged , ,

And They’re Gone! The Obscenity of Dr. Fauci’s Jobs-Mageddon, by David Stockman

Posted on May 12, 2020 | Leave a comment

The unemployment numbers released last Friday are even worse than they look, and they look terrible. From David Stockman at lewrockwell.com:

Yes, they are…..gone.

We are referring, of course, to all of the jobs created not only since the Great Recession bottom, but during the entire 21st century to date!

That’s right. The 20.5 million jobs plunge reported for April essentially wiped out the “strong labor market” brouhaha of the 244 “Jobs Friday” reports since January 2000.

In fact, the 131.072 million nonfarm payroll jobs reported for April 2020 were actually below the 131.124 million jobs reported way back in February 2000 when Bill Clinton was still scurrying around the White House looking for some place to hide the blue dress.

Total Nonfarm Payrolls, 2000-2020

Needless to say, embedded in the above disastrous chart is the boot heel of Lockdown Nation at its most vicious. That is, it has brutally monkey-hammered those channels of daily economic life that are based on social congregation – bars, restaurants, hotels, malls, salons, gyms, movies, concerts etc.

Continue reading→

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Banking, Business, Collapse, Debt, Economy, Government, Labor

Tagged ,

Unemployment Kills: The Longer Lockdowns Last, the Worse It Will Get, by Ryan McMaken

Posted on May 4, 2020 | 1 comment

Yes, unemployment kills. So, for that matter, does stupidity. From Ryan McMaken at mises.org:

Fed chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday announced the economic data now coming out “is worse than any data we have seen for the economy.”

This is due in part to to twenty years of stimulus-driven economic growth based on blowing up and sustaining bubbles through easy money. But it is now made much worse by the fact that many governments have frozen their states’ and nations’ economies, shut down businesses, and prevented markets from adapting to the new realities of consumers and workers in a world with a heightened risk of disease.

The result has been catastrophic unemployment, with 30 million Americans filing for unemployment over the past six weeks (one survey puts it at 50 million). In states that insist on continuing with widespread coercive economic shutdowns, the numbers will only keep getting worse.

Many policymakers, unfortunately, continue to pretend that the costs associated with these shutdowns are minimal or insignificant. Those who speak up against the shutdowns—whether from the perspective of protecting human rights, or simply on pragmatic grounds—are often shouted down as choosing filthy lucre over public health.

The reality, however, is that when unemployment leads to impoverishment or loss of social status, it is itself a major health problem.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Business, Economy, Government, Medicine, Science

Tagged ,