It has been 14 weeks since the claims have been over a million from the virus shutdowns and restriction’s on America ….
While NorthEastern states are sending people back to work?
Southern and MidWest states are having increased virus infection rates and may have to re-impose restrictions on their businesses….
In addition?
With their budgets suffering from loss of tax revenue and payouts of jobless benefits?
Some states and localities will probably have to lay off some of their civil servants and cut back services…
Nearly 1.5 million workers filed new claims for state unemployment insurance last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, the 14th week in a row that the figure has topped one million.
An additional 728,000 workers filed for benefits from Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a federally funded emergency program aimed at covering the self-employed, independent contractors and other workers who don’t qualify for traditional unemployment insurance.
The total number of people collecting state unemployment insurance is 19.5 million, down from nearly 25 million in early May.
The latest data come amid conflicting signals for the economy. On the one hand, New York and some other places that were hard hit are starting to get back to business.
But a spike in cases in states that reopened earlier has raised fears of new setbacks. On Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas urged residents to stay home and warned that the state might have to impose new restrictions if the virus could not be contained. And California and Florida have each posted record numbers of new cases in recent days.
“The renewed outbreak will hinder the recovery,” said Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at Northern Trust in Chicago. “I can’t help but think that the willingness of consumers to be in crowded places has diminished. It’s going to be a long haul to get back to where we were before the pandemic.”…