$1 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Package

8/5/2020

1.43M

The Department of Labor said on Thursday that roughly 1.43 million Americans filed for unemployment in the week ended on July 25- an increase of 12,000 from the previous week, pushing the number of total unemployment claims filed during the coronavirus pandemic is more than 54 million. In each of the past 19 weeks, more jobless claims have been generated than ever before the pre-pandemic record of 695,000 was set in the week that ended on October 2, 1982. The number of people receiving unemployment benefits increased by 867,000 to 17 million — signs the jobs recovery is losing momentum. The department said that California recorded the most affected state, with 249,007 initial claims, Florida (87,062), and New York with 85,000 made during that week. Click here to see your state unemployment insurance initial claims in the week ended July 25th, 2020.

307

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that from June 2019 to June 2020, nonfarm payroll employment decreased over the year in 307 metropolitan areas and 82 areas were essentially unchanged. According to the report, the national non-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate standing at 11.2 percent, up from 3.8 percent a year earlier. The largest over-the-year percentage losses in employment occurred in Atlantic City-Hammonton and Ocean City, both in NJ, decreased by 29.2 percent and 28.7 percent, respectively. In New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, employment decreased by 1,549,100 –recorded the largest over-the-year employment decrease among large metropolitan areas. Click here to see your state and metropolitan area data released on July 31st, 2020.

2021

Google will keep its employees work from home until July 2021 for nearly all of its 200,000 employees and contract workers– marking the one of the first major tech company to extend its remote-work arrangement until at least next summer as coronavirus pandemic rages in the U.S. and other countries, the Wall Street Journal reported. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said he made this decision partly to help out employees with children who may be facing a partly or mostly remote school year. We are still learning a lot from our experiences of working remotely and will use that knowledge to inform our approach to the future of work at Google”, Pichai added

Meanwhile, Twitter also announced that it would let employees who wish to do so work from home forever and Facebook CEO also said he expects half of the company’s social network’s employees to work from home in the next decade. However, these announcements show that Covid-19 changing the working style, forcing companies across a variety of industries to reimagine what office work looks like.

$1T

Senate Republicans officially launched a $1 trillion coronavirus relief package. A package includes billions of dollars in funding to address the coronavirus epidemic and extend support for small and medium-sized businesses and individuals affected by the public health crisis, with a focus on getting American workers back to work and kids back to school, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. The packages provide another round of small business loans, similar to the Paycheck Protection Program but this time providing $190 billion to businesses with fewer than 300 employees, and at least a 50% reduction in revenues during the pandemic. Other provisions include providing $100 billion to help schools and universities reopen fully and liability protections for medical workers, schools, and employers, according to WSJ.

32.9%

The Commerce Department reported on Thursday that U.S gross domestic product contracted at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 32.9% in the second quarter or a 9.5% drop compared with the prior quarter — the decline is the worst ever in the United States for the April-June period. It’s the steepest quarterly decline in records dating back to 1947 and more than three times as sharp as the previous record — 10% decline in the first quarter of 1958 — and nearly four times the worst quarter during the Great Recession, according to The Wall Street Journal. The department’s report shows there were sharp declines in exports, personal consumption, investment, and local government spending.

$4.5M

N.J. Pandemic Relief Fund is providing $4.5 million in aid to illegal immigrants who are excluded from collecting state and federal coronavirus financial relief. The program, funded by groups that include the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation will use guidelines to identify households that match income criteria, it said. The direct cash payments will distribute to families and workers excluded from unemployment benefits and other pandemic relief efforts. Households with two or more members can get $500 in the form of a preloaded Visa debit card and those with three or more will be given $1,000, according to the fund. Nearly 475,000 illegal immigrants living in New Jersey without state or federal help, according to the estimation by Pew Research Center.

400

Health officials in the US reported that nearly 400 people in 34 states have fallen ill by a salmonella outbreak linked to red onions. The U.S Food and Drug Administration identified that outbreak of salmonella newport which has been tied to red, white, yellow, and sweet onions from Thomson International, Inc. of Bakersfield, California. Health officials recommend that all consumers, restaurants, and retailers don’t eat, serve or sell recalled onions from Thomson International. Symptoms of Salmonella include diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps. So far, health officials have reported 396 illnesses and 59 hospitalizations. No deaths were reported.

67.9%

The homeownership rate climbed to 67.9% in the second quarter of 2020 — an increase of 3.8 percentage points compared to the same period last year and 2.6 percentage points over the first quarter of 2020, where the rate stood at 65.3 percent, the Commerce Department said. This marks the highest homeownership rate since the third quarter of 2008. Last year, the homeownership rate was 64.1%. Younger buyers saw the biggest increase, with the homeownership rate for those under the age of 32, rising to 40.6% in the second quarter from 37.3% last quarter. The homeownership rate increased among Americans of all ages. Meanwhile, the rental vacancy rate fell to 5.7%, down from 6.6% — the lowest rental vacancy rate since 1984.

3%

New York City schools won’t reopen for in-person instruction unless the city’s COVID-19 infection rate remains below 3% using a seven-day rolling average — a stricter standard than the state’s threshold of 5%, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. All school community members will get priority for testing, with school-based staff prioritized at testing centers, and able to receive results within 24 hours. If there is a positive test, the school will be closed for 24 hours for deep cleaning and contact tracing, and classes within that affected room would be quarantined and assigned to remote learning for 14 days, according to the WSJ. Schools will enforce physical distancing, required face coverings, daily cleaning, and nightly disinfecting, Mayor said.