New jobless claims climb back above 1M
Biden lays out plans to complete $2,000 stimulus payments, attack pandemic
Miller’s Pub in Chicago is one of the many restaurants across the country basically in hibernation under the pandemic. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
New claims for unemployment insurance surged across the nation last week, as more than 1 million newly idled workers filed for benefits for the first time since August.
The weekly unemployment report from the U.S. Department of Labor — the last scheduled to be released under the Trump administration — found in raw data that 1.2 million workers filed for benefits last week. That was a jump of more than 25 percent from the revised figure of 784,000 who filed for unemployment insurance the week before.
Seasonally adjusted, the Labor Department set the new filings at 965,000, but it had been expected that new claims would rise 132,000, when there were actually 100,000 more than that.
Another 284,000 claims were filed for expanded federal benefits for independent contractors, freelancers, and gig workers under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, extended in the latest coronavirus relief package passed by Congress before the end of the year.
But, with the economy sputtering under the pandemic — especially restaurants and entertainment venues closed or with limited service — another relief package appeared called for.
President-elect Biden addressed the continuing crisis in a speech Thursday night. He proposed an additional $1.9 trillion relief package to “complete” $2,000 direct payments to most U.S. citizens — after the December relief package distributed $600 checks — and to throw huge amounts of money into testing, vaccination, and contact tracing for COVID-19, along with additional funding to enable schools to reopen. The “American Rescue Plan,” as Biden called it, would also include aid to states and local governments to make up for revenue lost in the pandemic and the resulting economic downturn.
“I’m grateful to see President-elect Biden’s serious and effective plan for bringing this pandemic to a close with the urgency Illinoisans deserve,” said Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who has been seeking state aid for months. “The American Rescue Plan promises to match this moment of national crisis. As I’ve said from the beginning, it is the responsibility of government to deliver real relief when our people are hurting, and I look forward to partnering with the Biden administration to accelerate vaccination efforts, protect the health of Illinoisans, provide meaningful economic support to our workers and small businesses, and put COVID-19 behind us once and for all.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot also cheered the proposal on Friday, tweeting: “The stimulus package unveiled yesterday by the Biden-Harris Transition means more money in the pockets of Americans, financial support for cities like Chicago, more aid for the unemployed, and increased funding for our vaccination efforts. Let's get this done!”
The New York Times quoted Biden economic adviser Brian Deese as saying, “At this moment the president-elect feels that we need to move aggressively on both rescue and recovery.”
With outdoor dining increasingly unappealing across the northern part of the country in winter — and certainly across most of Illinois — and theaters and other entertainment venues shuttered, that combined with post-holiday coronavirus spikes in states like California to drag down huge segments of the service industry. Just last week, the Labor Department reported that the national economy lost 140,000 jobs in December, the first month-to-month decline in employment since April.
The Times quoted Glassdoor economist Daniel Zhao as saying, “We know that the pandemic is worsening, and with the jobs report last Friday, we can see that we’re in a deep economic hole and digging in the wrong direction.”
According to the Labor Department, newly filed claims in Illinois more than doubled from the week before to 97,000. An additional 16,000 idled workers filed for the expanded PUA benefits.
The department reported that 18.4 million U.S. workers were on some form of unemployment last week, down 744,000 from the previous week, but still many times the 2.2 million drawing on benefits a year ago.
Toward the end of the year, newly filed weekly claims dropped into the 700,000s, but they never fell below the pre-COVID one-week record of 695,000 set during the 1982 recession.