Just over a week before the programs expire on Dec. 26, pandemic-specific unemployment benefit claims are rising with nearly 1 million new people receiving unemployment benefits through temporary programs, according to the latest data from the Department of Labor.
What is happening: On November 28, there were 14 million people receiving unemployment benefits through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) programs, an increase of 958,000 over the previous week .
- 1.4 million Americans filed for unemployment claims for the first time last week, with 935,000 applications for traditional unemployment benefits and 455,000 claims for the PUA program.
What to see: The White House and congressional leaders are still facing a $ 900 billion coronavirus aid package that would extend unemployment programs. It seems more and more that the conversations will drag on until the weekend.
The big 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 the PEUC increased, the figures increased broadly in the last week. of November.
- The number of people receiving the traditional unemployment benefit increased by 552,000.
- The number of PUA recipients increased by 689,000.
- The 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.
- During the week of November 28, 20.6 million Americans were receiving some form of unemployment benefit
Make it clear: These figures “really show the fragility of the labor market, especially now as a second resurgence of coronavirus [is] causing further business closures and additional job losses, “Stifel chief economist Lindsey Piegza told CNBC.
- More than 247,000 new COVID-19 infections were confirmed in the United States, and data from the Atlantic COVID Monitoring Project showed a record 113,000 people hospitalized with the virus.
Pay attention: The seasonally adjusted figures from the Department of Labor showed 885,000 initial applications for unemployment benefits, 50,000 fewer claims than the unadjusted figures.
- The Department of Labor has said it agrees with a report from the Government Liability Office which found that its weekly publications “do not provide an accurate estimate of the total number of people actually applying for insurance”. unemployment “.