The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell as the nation celebrated Thanksgiving last week to a still-high 712,000, the latest sign that the U.S. economy and job market remain under stress from the intensified viral outbreak.
In Tennessee, initial jobless claims fell to the lowest level since before the pandemic shut down many businesses in March, falling to 5,789 new filings for unemployment benefits. In response, the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said it paid $24.8 million in benefits to a total of 92,829 unemployed persons with new or ongoing jobless claims. That was only a fraction of the $340 million a week paid by the state and federal government for such benefits earlier this year.
Despite the drop, jobless claims nationwide are still more than triple the level prior to the pandemic. The chronically high pace of applications shows that nearly nine months after the pandemic struck, many employers are still slashing jobs.
"Thanksgiving seasonals likely explain the drop" in jobless claims last week, Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a research note. "Expect a rebound next week."
The total number of people who are continuing to receive traditional state unemployment benefits declined to 5.5 million from 6.1 million. That figure is down sharply from its peak of nearly 23 million in May. It means that some jobless Americans are finding jobs and no longer receiving aid. But it also indicates that many of the unemployed have used up their state benefits, which typically expire after six months.
With layoffs still elevated and new confirmed viral cases in the United States now exceeding 160,000 a day on average, the economy's modest recovery is increasingly in danger. States and cities are issuing mask mandates, limiting the size of gatherings, restricting restaurant dining, closing gyms or reducing the hours and capacity of bars, stores and other businesses.
Most experts say the economy won't be able to sustain a recovery until the virus is brought under control with an effective and widely used vaccine.
Many jobless Americans are now collecting checks under two federal programs that were set up this year to ease the economic pain inflicted by the pandemic. But those programs are set to expire the day after Christmas. When they do, benefits will end completely for an estimated 9.1 million unemployed people.
Diners eat lunch outside at Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020, in Pasadena, Calif. Pasadena has become an island in the center of the nation's most populous county, where a surge of COVID-19 cases last week led to a three-week end to outdoor dining and California's first stay-home order since the pandemic began to spread across the state in March. The decision by Pasadena health authorities to buck Los Angeles County has been a relief to restaurateurs who have struggled to stay afloat amid closures, ever-changing rules and attempts to keep workers on the job and money in the till. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)The number of people collecting aid under one of those programs - the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which offers coverage to gig workers and others who don't qualify for traditional benefits - fell by 339,000 to 8.9 million for the week ending Nov. 14.
But the number of people receiving aid under the second program - the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which provides 13 weeks of federal benefits to people who have exhausted their state aid - rose by 60,000 to 4.6 million.
All told, roughly 20.2 million people are now receiving some type of unemployment aid. (Figures for the two pandemic-related programs aren't adjusted for seasonal variations.)
The data firm Homebase reports that its measures of job market health - employees working, hours worked and businesses open - have deteriorated from where they stood in the summer.
"We expect conditions to worsen, placing increased pressure on Main Street as small businesses continue to struggle to survive, Homebase researchers wrote.
Likewise, the data firm Womply estimates that 21% of small businesses were shuttered at the start of November, up from June's 16% rate. Womply also said that consumer spending at local businesses declined 30% last month from a year earlier, marking a deterioration from a 20% year-over-year decline in October.
Americans are bracing for the picture to worsen: Thirty percent of adults surveyed by the Commerce Department from Nov. 11 to 23 reported that they or someone in their household expected to lose income in the next four weeks, up from 23% of those surveyed from Sept. 30 to Oct. 12.
- Compiled by Dave Flessner