2.4 million Americans filed jobless claims last week, bringing nine-week total to 38.6 million

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

President Trump and top Republican lawmakers are mounting fresh opposition to extending enhanced unemployment benefits to the millions of Americans who are still out of work, even as the administration released new jobless figures Thursday showing 2.4 million Americans sought benefits last week.

The reluctance by the White House and top GOP leaders drew sharp rebukes from congressional Democrats, who argue the coronavirus outbreak threatens to further ravage the U.S. workforce unless the government authorizes additional aid. Their clash could intensify in the next six weeks, as policymakers stare down a July deadline while the country’s labor market is expected to only worsen.

More than 38.6 million Americans have now sought unemployment benefits over nine weeks, the Labor Department reported in its most recent update, illustrating the rolling devastation wrought by the pandemic.

At issue is the enhanced unemployment aid that Congress approved in late March, which includes an extra $600 in weekly payments to out-of-work Americans. On Tuesday, President Trump articulated his reluctance to extend those benefits during a closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans, many of whom share his concern that the expanded federal payments deter people from returning to work. The enhanced benefits expire in July.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/21/unemployment-claims-coronavirus/

---

Friday eve!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Whew. You had me worried.

Good morning. From the source:

https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf

TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL
8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, May 14, 2020

COVID-19 Impact

The COVID-19 virus continues to impact the number of initial claims and insured unemployment.
This report now includes information on claimants filing Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation claims.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending May 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 2,981,000, a decrease of 195,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 7,000 from 3,169,000 to 3,176,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,616,500, a decrease of 564,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 7,000 from 4,173,500 to 4,180,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 15.7 percent for the week ending May 2, an increase of 0.3 percentage point from the previous week's revised rate. The previous week's rate was revised down by 0.1 from 15.5 to 15.4 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 2 was 22,833,000, an increase of 456,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 270,000 from 22,647,000 to 22,377,000. The 4-week moving average was 19,760,000, an increase of 2,729,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 67,500 from 17,097,750 to 17,030,250.

{snip the remainder}

[BumRushDaShow]

2. I have been

MIRTing heavily this morning but when the breaking came in, I came right here and posted (and let the folks know that you come first).

[UpInArms]

6. Good morning, mahatmakanejeeves

[mahatmakanejeeves]

13. Good morning, UpInArms. NT

[progree]

14. Did you mean to post the previous week's report? n/t

[UpInArms]

3. Jobless claims jump 4.4 million in mid-May as applications for federal benefits surge

The numbers: More than 4.4 million unemployed Americans applied for jobless benefits last week through the states or a temporary federal-relief program, reflecting persistent pressure on struggling companies to slash payrolls even as the U.S. economy slowly reopens for business.

Some 2.2 million people filed initial jobless claims through their state unemployment offices in the seven days ended May 16. And at least 2.2 million applied through the federal government’s temporary Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, the Labor Department said Thursday.

MarketWatch for the first time is reporting jobless claims in raw or actual figures, foregoing the time-honored media practice of using seasonally adjusted numbers. The seasonal adjustments have overstated jobless claims by several million and are less relevant given the nature of a once-in-a-century pandemic. See this congressional report for a fuller explanation.

... snip ...

The total: almost 45 million.

The true number of unemployed is impossible to know for sure, but earlier this month the government said 20.5 million workers lost their jobs in April. The unemployment rate shot up to almost 20% unofficially, according to a close reading of the government’s report. The official estimate was 14.7%.

More at:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/jobless-claims-jump-44-million-in-mid-may-as-applications-for-federal-benefits-surge-2020-05-21?mod=mw_latestnews

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Good morning!

[UpInArms]

5. Good morning to you, also!

[turbinetree]

7. Hey #Moscow Mitch, the Heroes Act is now in your corner, are you still in the mood for

everyone else to just eat cake, or how about your wife and her inspector general firing, are you going to still take a week off with pay whle millions of people are in the unemployment line............and has for the narcissistic lunatic having reluctance to extend anything, reluctant, but he's itching to play fucking golf on the taxpayers dime without any reluctance, but he will also show up at Ford Plant in Michigan without a mask and having only one day left to take his malaria drug, maybe he will choke, after all he has his presser with a glass of water covered with some paper object to protect him for germs.............he can pound sand right along with #Moscow Mitch and "all" of his libertarian pukes..............the ball is in your corner pass the HEROES ACT Now............

[BumRushDaShow]

8. And I'll add some extra

[turbinetree]

9. Wado---------------thank you

[Bengus81]

10. Quick Wall St...let's see a 1000 point day because you "thought" it would be 50M claims!

Only 38.6M and a coming 20%+ unemployment rate is sooooo much better than we ever imagined.


Right................

[BumRushDaShow]

11. The futures have been down this morning too

(and still down by a bit - "relatively" )

https://markets.businessinsider.com/premarket

Dow ~-60
NASDAQ ~-7
S&P 500 ~-6

[beachbumbob]

12. the worse is yet to come

More than 38.6 million Americans have now sought unemployment benefits over nine weeks. The effect is still a driving force and shall remain as many businesses will simply not reopen. The lack of leadership by trump is failing our country to level unseen in our history. When I say the worse is yet to come, that is an understatement

[LudwigPastorius]

15. With an American workforce currently at 164.6 million, that translates into...

an unemployment rate of 23%.

That's only 1.9% below the highest rate ever recorded in 1933.

OK, Mnuchin & Trump. Tell me again how the economy is going to come roaring back when 1 in 5 workers don't have a fucking job.