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Joanie Courtney, Chief Workforce Analyst for EmployBridge, on January’s employment report amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits for the first time increased last week as the coronavirus pandemic continues to trigger a high number of layoffs.
Figures released Thursday by the Department of Labor show that 793,000 Americans first filed for unemployment during the week ended Feb. 6, more than the 757,000 forecast by Refinitiv economists.
The number has remained stubbornly high for months, hovering around four times the pre-crisis level, although it is well below the high of nearly 7 million that was reached when the orders were first issued to the home in March. Nearly 70 million Americans, or about 40% of the workforce, have applied for unemployment benefits during the pandemic.
WHAT IS BIDEN’S $ 1.9T STIMULUS PLAN?
Continuing claims, or the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits consecutively, fell to 4.54 million, a decline of about 145,000 from the previous week. The report shows that about 20.4 million Americans were receiving some sort of unemployment benefit until Jan. 23, an increase of about 2.5 million from the previous week.
Many more Americans are receiving unemployment assistance from two federal programs that Congress put in place with the passage of the CARES law in March: one extends assistance to the self-employed, to construction workers and others who are generally not eligible for benefits, and the other provides assistance to those who have exhausted their state allowances.
The federal government renewed these programs at the end of December with the passage of a $ 900 billion relief package, which includes an additional unemployment benefit of $ 300 per week, a one-time stimulus check of $ 600 for most adults and new financing for a small business. rescue program.
Democrats in Congress, who saw this emergency aid as the start of relief efforts, are rushing through a nearly $ 2 trillion stimulus package without any Republican membership.
BIDEN SPARKS BACKLASH AMONG SOME PROGRESSIVE OVER $ 1,400 STIMULUS CONTROLS IN COVID RELIEF PROPOSAL
A draft proposal released by the House Ways and Means Committee this week includes extended unemployment benefits to $ 400 per week through August and a third stimulus check valued at $ 1,400 for winning Americans less than $ 75,000 per year.
If lawmakers do not grant unemployment assistance, 11.4 million Americans will lose their benefits on March 14, according to a new report released Wednesday by The Century Foundation, a non-partisan think tank.
“Unemployment benefits passed as part of the December stimulus package are responsible for lifting more than 7 million Americans out of poverty in January, but Americans will need high unemployment benefits to at least be in place. until the end of September if they want to weather the storm. pandemic, ”the report said.
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