FreedomWorks economist Stephen Moore discusses rising unemployment records amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The number of Americans who filed for state unemployment insurance fell, but remained high last week, as the job market struggles to recover from an increase in COVID-19 infections across the country and new restrictions to help contain the spread of the virus.
Figures released on Thursday by the Department of Labor show that 847,000 Americans applied for unemployment insurance for the first time in the week ending January 23, slightly below the 875,000 predicted by Refinitiv economists.
The figure is almost four times the pre-crisis level, but it is well below the peak of almost 7 million that was reached when home stay requests were first issued in March. Nearly 70 million Americans, or about 40% of the workforce, applied for unemployment insurance during the pandemic.
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The number of people who continue to receive unemployment insurance has dropped to 4.77 million, a decline of about 203,000 from the previous week. The report shows that about 18.28 million Americans were receiving some form of unemployment benefit by January 9, an increase of 2.29 million over the previous week.
Many more Americans are receiving unemployment benefits from two federal programs that Congress established with the approval of the CARES Act in March: one extends aid to self-employed individuals, temporary workers and others who are not normally eligible for benefits, and the other provides aid to those who have exhausted their state benefits.
The federal government renewed these programs at the end of December with the approval of a $ 900 billion bailout law, which includes an additional $ 300 a week unemployment benefit, a single $ 600 stimulus check for most of adults and new financing for a small business rescue program.
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Leading Democrats saw the aid package as the tip of the iceberg, and President Biden unveiled a $ 1.9 trillion stimulus plan that includes $ 20 billion for vaccine distribution, extended unemployment benefits for $ 400 per week through September and a third $ 1,400 stimulus check.
“The third wave of the pandemic is showing signs of slowing, but it is still too early to end this current wave of the pandemic, especially with the prospect of new, more communicable variants on the horizon,” said Glassdoor senior economist Daniel Zhao. “Keeping the pandemic in check and speeding up vaccine delivery are the best economic stimulus that the new Biden administration could provide.”