How Coronavirus Pandemic Affected the U.S. Labor Market

The coronavirus pandemic continues to dominate the headlines, and it is not surprising as millions of people around the world lost their jobs. There are other problems as well. However, unemployment is a very serious issue. Notably, more than 1 million Americans made the decision to apply for unemployment benefits for the first time, for the week that ended on August 22. However, compared to the previous week, this number fell from 1.104 million to just over 1 million. The state of the labor market is far from being ideal. 

People should take into consideration that, it was the second-consecutive week that new claims surpassed 1 million. Notably, initial claims were last below 1 million several weeks ago, more precisely on a week that ended on August 8.

 Unfortunately, since the coronavirus pandemic began more than 58 million Americans decided to apply for initial jobless claims. 

The state of the labor market

Importantly, to have a better understating, it makes sense to learn more about the state of the labor market in various states. 

Interestingly, continuing claims which account for those receiving unemployment benefits for at least two weeks in a row fell by 223,000 to 14.535 million for the week ending August 15. As a reminder, data on continuing claims is delayed by one week. 

It is worth mentioning that, New Jersey and Florida saw the highest increases of initial claims for the week ending August 15. In both states, initial cases rose by more than 11,000. Moreover, initial claims in New York, as well as Texas, increased by more than 9,000 in each state.

The world’s largest economy is struggling to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. It won’t be easy to get the economy back on track. However, the U.S. has the potential to boost its economy. Private and governmental organizations should work together to solve all the problems.