The new reality: May unemployment looks worse than expected, signaling another bad jobs report could be coming

Patti Domm@IN/PATTI-DOMM-9224884/@PATTIDOMM

KEY POINTS

• State reopenings and government relief for small businesses were expected to help get some of the laid-off workers off unemployment benefits and back to work. So far, the data does not show that’s happening.
• Economists said the May employment report could show the loss of millions of jobs, and possible revisions in April’s job losses of 20.5 million.
• A pickup in the labor market is still expected in June, as state reopenings gain momentum. 

WATCH NOWVIDEO02:18Weekly jobless claims rose 2.44 million for week ending May 16

State reopenings have not yet helped stem the rise in unemployment, which is expected to show another big jump in the month of May. 

Weekly jobless claims totaled 2.4 million for the week ending May 16, bringing the total number of claims filed since late March to 38.6 million. For the week of May 9, continuing unemployment claims, reflecting people who collected benefits for at least a second week, rose to 25.1 million, an increase of 2.5 million from the previous week. 

Jefferies economists said they had been hopeful last week that labor market job losses were closer to plateauing, when there was a much lower increase in people continuing to receive benefits. “This week’s data dashes all that,” they said.

The economists say their model now suggests 10.3 million jobs will be lost when the government reports the May employment report on June 5, but they are not yet forecasting that number and are awaiting more data. In April, 20.3 million jobs were lost and the unemployment rate rose to 14.7% from 4.4%…….more here

Click here for reuse options!
Copyright 2020 Hiram's 1555 Blog