As policymakers continue to negotiate over another round of fiscal aid, initial claims for unemployment insurance increased to 853,000 for the week ending Dec. 5. … READ MORE >
Covid-19
CHART OF THE DAY: U.S. job openings improve
Workers are growing more confident in their ability to find a job, according to the most recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There were 5.1 million separations from employment on the back of 6.65 million job openings during October, according to the survey. … READ MORE >
5 things to know this week in life sciences: Week of Dec. 7
This is the first installment of a new weekly roundup in which we highlight five things you need to know about in the life sciences industry. Here’s the latest, including COVID-19 vaccine news, a deal between Palantir and the FDA, and more. … READ MORE >
A K-shaped wage environment: Abnormalities in wage and benefit growth during the pandemic
The economic distortions of the pandemic are becoming increasingly evident in the divergent fortunes of the nation’s workers. Hourly wages are rising at a solid rate among nonsupervisory workers, but that’s primarily because of the reduction in force of low-wage workers. … READ MORE >
Looking forward: Canada’s economy in 2021
Canadian output is likely to expand by roughly 4 per cent in 2021 and 2022. While this is solid, the Canadian economy is not likely to reach its full capacity to produce until 2023. … READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: Booming mortgage originations
After a slow first quarter, mortgage originations in the United States are surging as homeowners capitalize on historically low interest rates, with the totals approaching levels not seen since 2003. … READ MORE >
Coronavirus update: More records to be broken as human toll mounts
A record 237,000 new cases were reported on Dec. 4 and a record 2,921 people died from the COVID-19 disease on Dec. 3, according to the Worldometers database. … READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: Vaccine doses for the global population
With the U.S. Food and Drug Administration set to review Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine this week for emergency use authorization and Moderna’s vaccine next week, we have passed the “if” phase of questions around a COVID-19 vaccine and are now in the midst of determining the “when and how” of vaccine distribution. … READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: Estimating unemployment during the pandemic
Friday’s headline U3 unemployment rate of 6.7% is probably an undercount of the number of out-of-work people, not by design, but by the peculiar circumstances of the pandemic. … READ MORE >
U.S. November employment report: Winter is coming
The recall of workers and job creation continued to slow in November to 245,000, while the unemployment rate declined to 6.7%, just ahead of what is likely to be a pandemic-induced drag on domestic labor market conditions over the next few months. … READ MORE >