ADP chief economist Nela Richardson discusses the latest report on jobs, productivity, business reopening and rising interest rates.
The number of Americans filing unemployment benefits for the first time declined last week as coronavirus cases nationwide fell and many states reduced restrictions on business activity.
Figures released by the Labor Department on Thursday show that 712,000 Americans filed unemployment claims for the first time in the week ended March 6, lower than the 725,000 forecasters of Refinitiv economists.
Weekly unemployment claims have remained stubbornly high for months and are four times higher than the typical pre-crisis level, although well below the peak of almost 7 million reached when stay-at-home orders first rose in March a year ago was issued.
There are about 10 million fewer jobs than there were in February last year before the crisis began.
Ongoing claims, or the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits in a row, dropped to 4.14 million, down from 193,000 the previous week. The report shows that approximately 20.1 million Americans collected unemployment benefits for the week ending February 20, an increase of 2.08 million compared to the previous week.
Many more Americans are receiving unemployment benefits from two federal programs that Congress drafted in March with the adoption of the CARES law: one supporting self-employed individuals, gig workers, and others who are not usually eligible to receive benefits, and the others provide assistance to those who have exhausted their state benefits.
The federal government renewed these programs at the end of December with a $ 900 billion emergency relief package, which included a $ 300-a-week additional unemployment benefit, a one-time $ 600 stimulus test for most adults and new funding for a small business includes. rescue program.
President Biden is expected to sign the $ 1.9 billion stimulus package on Friday, which will extend unemployment programs until September 6. The measure also includes a $ 1,400 check for millions of Americans, a one-year extension of the child tax credit and hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to state and local governments, vaccine and school distribution efforts.