The spread of the coronavirus across the South and Southwest and into the Plains became apparent in states with statistically significant increases in initial jobless claims during the week ending July 11. … READ MORE >
Economics
Initial jobless claims: 17 straight weeks above 1 million
Initial jobless claims remain stubbornly elevated, which implies persistent weakness in the domestic labor market as the economy absorbs further intensification of the coronavirus pandemic. … READ MORE >
June Consumer Price Index: Inflation not a risk to near-term economic outlook
Rising energy and gasoline prices accounted for roughly half of the 0.6% increase month over month inside the June Consumer Price Index report and should prove transient due to easing demand on the back of an intensifying pandemic. … READ MORE >
Canada jobs: Canadian economy surprises again, regional disparities remain, outlook uncertain
New jobs data showed that the Canadian economy added another 952,900 jobs in the month of June, exceeding expectations by a large margin. High frequency and alternative indicators of economic activity such as restaurant bookings, public transportation use and traffic congestion levels had predicted a large increase, as had some traditional measures like housing starts, which increased significantly in June. … READ MORE >
Policy uncertainty and the costs of prolonging the pandemic
Loss of income and tax revenue from the 50 million who applied for unemployment benefits during the 16 weeks of the economic shutdown directly contributes to the growing uncertainty. … READ MORE >
Cumulative jobless claims pass 6 million in California and 3 million in Florida
In a week that the cumulative number of people registering for unemployment benefits passed 50 million, California has now processed more than 6 million initial claims and Florida passed the 3 million mark. … READ MORE >
Initial jobless claims: 50 million and counting
Roughly 50 million Americans have filed first-time jobless claims over the past four months, while for the week ending July 4 an additional 1.31 million have filed for unemployment insurance. … READ MORE >
Pandemic choice: Reopening schools and the economy
We continue to make the case that until there is a national testing, tracing and treatment regime in place, any talk of economic recovery is premature at best. The same could be said of the reopening of schools. … READ MORE >
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rise in 25 states
There were increases in the number of newly filed claims for unemployment benefits in 25 states during the week ending June 27. Thirteen of those states reported increases that were significantly above normal levels. … READ MORE >
June U.S. employment report: Encouragement, concern and outright skepticism
Total employment increased by an encouraging 4.8 million workers in June as the U.S. economy continues what will be a multiyear period of recovery in the American labor market. But this is not the time to pull back aid to those out of work. … READ MORE >