Re-employment Progress Appears Stopped in Past Two Weeks in U.S.

June 4, 2020 (EIRNS)—According to the Labor Department’s release on unemployment claims released this morning, the partial progress on re-employment of the huge number of people now unemployed in the United States, progress which had reduced that number by perhaps 5 million out of 40 million during May, has stopped. Using the figures not “seasonally adjusted” which are given in the department’s full release, “continuing insured unemployment” was at about 21.5 million in the week ending May 23, an increase of 435,000 from the prior week as revised. Adding the 3.8 million new unemployment claims filed in the two weeks since then, the 25.3 million insured unemployed as of this week (ending June 6) are also about 300,000 more than the week ending May 30.

This is the state unemployment benefits figure. If one adds about 8 million people receiving federal unemployment under the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment of Congressional COVID relief acts; and the 10 million or more forced to work part-time; and the 5 million discouraged and long-term labor force drop-outs; (we’ll learn more on these figures from the Labor Department on June 5), real unemployment and underemployment appears to remain above 45 million.

It has, in any case, not been reduced at all during the past week, and scarcely in the past two weeks combined—during which the Fed-fed financial markets have been rising sharply due to “signs, hopes, trends” of recovery and “opening up.”