Just over a week before the programs expire on December 26, claims for pandemic-specific unemployment benefits are rising by nearly 1 million new people receiving unemployment benefits through temporary programs, according to the latest data from the Department of Labor .
What happens: As of November 28, there were 14 million people receiving unemployment benefits through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Emergency Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) programs, an increase of 958,000 from the previous week.
- 1.4 million Americans filed for unemployment for the first time last week, with 935,000 applications for traditional unemployment benefits and 455,000 applications for the PUA program.
What to look for: The White House and congressional leaders disagree with a $ 900 billion bailout package to save the coronavirus that would expand unemployment programs. It seems more and more that the talks will take place over the weekend.
The whole picture: Unlike previous weeks, when the number of people receiving traditional unemployment benefits decreased and the number of Americans in long-term unemployment programs, such as PEUC, increased, the number increased everywhere in the last week of November.
- The number of people receiving traditional unemployment benefits has increased by 552,000.
- The number that received PUA increased by 689,000.
- PEUC increased by 269,000.
- Extended benefits increased by 79,000.
- In total, the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits increased by 1.6 million.
- For the week of November 28, 20.6 million Americans were receiving some form of unemployment benefits
Say clearly: These figures “really highlight the fragility of the labor market, especially now as the second recurrence of coronavirus [is] leading to business closures and additional job losses, “Lindsey Piegza, chief economist at Stifel, told CNBC.
- More than 247,000 new COVID-19 infections have been confirmed in the United States, and data from the Atlantic COVID follow-up project show a record 113,000 people have been hospitalized with the virus.
Pay attention: Seasonally adjusted figures from the Department of Labor showed 885,000 initial applications for unemployment benefits, 50,000 fewer than the unadjusted number.
- The Department of Labor said it agreed with a report by the Government Accountability Bureau, which found that its weekly launches “do not provide an accurate estimate of the total number of people actually claiming unemployment insurance.”