Jobs

Layoffs Will Continue Without More Aid, Economists Say

More than 804,000 Americans filed for unemployment last week.

By Staff October 8, 2020

Image: Shutterstock

Another 804,000 Americans filed for unemployment last week, according to the latest jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor. Another 464,000 people applied for benefits under the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which covers freelancers, the self-employed and other non-traditional workers.

However, despite the U.S. economy adding 661,000 jobs in September, “the level of claims is still staggeringly high,” Daniel Zhao, a senior economist at Glassdoor, told The New York Times. “We’re seeing evidence that the recovery is slowing down, whether it’s in slowing payroll gains or in the sluggish improvement in jobless claims.”

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Sept. 26 were in Maryland (3,619), Illinois (3,414), New Jersey (2,504), Michigan (2,358) and Massachusetts (1,886), while the largest decreases were in Texas (7,075), Florida (6,655), Georgia (5,895), New York (5,112), and Oregon (2,317).

The Labor Department report also comes as talks of an economic stimulus package have dried up, with President Trump announcing that he was pulling out of negotiations earlier this week.

Filed under
Share
Show Comments